Consulate’s Mission

MISSION STATEMENT

The Honorary Consulate General of Romania in Southwest Florida aims at developing friendly relations between Romania and United States of America, while promoting Romanian-American cooperation in the political, economic, technical, scientific and cultural fields, with specific focus on the local level.

GOVERNING PRINCIPLES

The Honorary Consulates are established by decision of the Romanian Government with the consent of the United States authorities with a view to foster the bilateral economic, business, cultural, and academic relations between the two countries

The Honorary Consulates play an important role in helping the Romanian-American communities in their jurisdiction to promote their national and cultural heritage

The Honorary Consulates do not perform any of the services that are regularly rendered by the embassies or career consular offices of Romania. They do not process passports or travel documents, do not issue visas, do not authenticate or certify documents. These services are only rendered by the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC and by the Romanian consular offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago

The Honorary Consuls may not use this capacity to serve as consultants or legal advisors to any person or business on matters that fall into the competencies and prerogatives of the Romanian authorities, except in exceptional circumstances. For services rendered under such exceptional circumstances the Honorary Consuls may not charge any taxes, fees, or reimbursements

All services and any form of assistance in any respect rendered by the Honorary Consuls at the request and to the benefit of the members of the Romanian-American communities in their jurisdictions are free of charge.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

To represent Romania’s interest in the political, economic, cultural, technical and scientific areas and to contribute to a better knowledge of the history and culture of the Romanian people and to strengthening the friendly relations between Romania and the United States of America;

To promote Romania’s political and economic objectives at the level of local Government, political leaders, think tanks, media etc.;

To facilitate economic and commercial relations between Romanian and American companies within the consular district;

To promote cooperation among the representatives of the Romanian-American community at local level, with a view to strengthen their sense of ethnic identity and assure the necessary ties and communication with Romania;

To stimulate the dialog and cooperation among local communities and Romania.

To inform the Romanian authorities about the developments in the commercial, economic, cultural and scientific life in the consular district, by sending relevant information through the Romanian Embassy in Washington;

To assist Romanian nationals, both individuals and corporations in lawsuits in the consular district, by recommending as well as providing relevant legislative information;

To render assistance to Romanian ships, aircrafts and road transport vehicle in case of wreck, damage, collision, accident, etc.;

To protect the legitimate rights and interests of Romanian citizens having permanent or temporary residence in the consular district;

To provide information about Romania to the think tank community and mass media.

ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS

To provide investors and business professionals with information on the business climate and opportunities in Romania.  In addition to background materials, they will provide breaking news on business tenders and significant changes in laws, regulations and policies that impact on commerce and investments;

To stimulate the development of economic relations among local American companies and Romanian companies:

To stimulate investments of local American companies in Romania;

To promote the “twinning” between towns from the consular district and the Romanian towns;

To support the establishment and activity of a Romanian-American Commercial Council, consisted of a number of top American companies with business interests in Romania.

ROMANIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY

To adopt a standard model of communication with the representatives of the Romanian community from the area, with the consultation of the Romanian Embassy;

To encourage the organization of a Consult Group consisted of the Romanian-American personalities from Romanian community in the area, having as objectives the evaluation of economic, social, cultural opportunities, and the set-up of a Romanian representation for sustaining and stimulating the organization of different events with economic, social and cultural content.

MEDIA AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

To promote and maintain relations with the US media, and media representatives with a special interest in Romania;

To promote and maintain relations with Romanian-American newspapers;

To establish relations with representatives of Romanian newspapers, making work-related travels in the USA;

To establish relations with representatives of governmental institutions from Romania paying work-related visits in the USA.

DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION

To create and maintain a web page;

To communicate and distribute information received from the Romanian Embassy regarding news or press releases, to destinations with particular interest for Romania;

To sustain, whenever necessary and possible, the contacts and collaboration among public or private institutions from Romania and the US in the cultural, educational, scientific and technology fields;

To stimulate and sustain research activities in Romania for documentary purposes, pursued by American personalities with great impact in shaping public and political opinions and with activities in public communication field.

CULTURE

To communicate periodically with the Romanian Embassy about the cultural agenda of the Consulate;

To stimulate and organize cultural events in the area;

To establish the content of the cultural events organized by the Consulate with the consultation of the Embassy of Romania;

To organize and maintain a library with promotional materials.

EDUCATION

To maintain permanent relations with universities and other educational institutions;

To stimulate the cooperation among Romanian and US universities, including the increase of the number of Romanian students with scholarships in the USA;

To assist, together with the Embassy of Romania, the Romanian students in US institutions to find a job after their return to Romania.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

To stimulate communication among Romanian and American institutions with similar profile regarding particular scientific and technologic results and projects;

To sustain academic projects of interest for Romania;

To promote Romanian students in the US institutions with scientific profile (computers, mathematics, physics, electronics, economy).

ADOPTIONS

To communicate with the US families which adopted children from Romania with the aim of preserving the ties with the children’s native country, as well as developing their sense of ethnic identity;

To inform and give references about adoptions in Romania.