Romanian Ambassador to UK applauds links between education and rugby on visit to West Wales

Carmarthenshire welcomed Romania’s Ambassador to the UK on his first visit to West Wales as part of a visit to Wales to help encourage and foster business links between the two countries.

The Romanian Ambassador congratulated the Scarlets and Carmarthenshire County Council for their inspiring partnership and ambition to support and develop young people through the connection of education and sport – providing aspiration and inspiration for young people through the values of rugby.

He said it was “a model” that he believed Romania could be inspired by and said he was impressed with the success of the rugby region working in close partnership with its local authority to provide the best opportunities possible for youth in Carmarthenshire.

As one of Romania’s top diplomats, His Excellency Dr Ion Jinga took time out of his busy schedule to visit Parc y Scarlets on Monday (23/1/12) and meet with the leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Meryl Gravell and Scarlets Chief Executive Mark Davies with the management team at Parc y Scarlets together with a number of Welsh businesses with links and interests in Romania.

During his day’s visit to Wales he also met with the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones and the Lord Mayor Cardiff, Cllr Professor Delme Bowen.

The unique nature of his visit included speaking to Welsh businesses about the trade links and opportunities in Romania as well as the opportunities to strengthen links between the Scarlets and the Ministries of Education and Sport and the Romanian Rugby Federation. He outlined that his country were keen to learn more about the Scarlets and Wales’ success in the development pathways established in the region and ability to bring forward young Welsh rugby talent from its grassroots.

Speaking to business leaders and dignitaries during his visit to Parc y Scarlets, His Excellency Dr Ion Jinga said: “Thank you very much indeed for my invitation and the kind words given and I have had such a warm welcome from the people in Wales. And it would seem this part of Wales is rich in leadership as I understand that Wales’ First Minister and Lord Mayor of Cardiff, both of whom I have met on this visit, also come from this part of the world.

“Part of my visit is to look into and to encourage and develop business ties and encourage those of you here today to do business in Romania and help establish business links.

“My country Romania and the United Kingdom have a strategic partnership that has been upgraded last year by the visit of the Romanian President to London as a guest of her Majesty’s government.

“I was told by the UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, that Britain and Romania have never had such good trade relations throughout our 130 years of official diplomatic relations. So this is a very good moment to continue to develop ties on every level, political, business, and of course in rugby.”

His Excellency outlined that there were significant avenues for investment and business success in Romania, which joined the European Union just over five years ago and with access to €5bn Euros per year, he encouraged Welsh businesses to look into the opportunities Romania offered for business funding and growth.

He informed delegates that Romania had come out of recession, was experiencing 2.5% economic growth and one of the lowest levels of public debt with a good, skilled workforce and could act as a bridge to other Eastern European counties and with it links to gas, oil and other reserves.

Dr Ion Jinga added that he had made a commitment to inform the Romanian Ministries of Sport and Education of what he had seen at Parc Y Scarlets and to help strengthen ties with the Romanian Rugby Federation.

His Excellency said: “I have been very impressed by what is happening here at the Scarlets in order to create a sense of young people growing up with solidarity, fairness and mixing good education and sport in Wales.”

He added that it was “a model that could be followed by the people of Romania” and give way to a common project in the future, where as he had seen at Parc y Scarlets sport, business, family and community combine in such a strong and unique way.

Dr Ion Jinga was presented with gifts from the Scarlets including Penderyn Welsh Whisky, a Scarlets signed jersey from this season; and was presented with a handcrafted Ash wooden bowl from Carmarthenshire County Council leader Meryl Gravell on behalf of the people of Carmarthenshire. The gift was carved and created by a young person as part of a social enterprise scheme in the county which sees young people with drink and drugs issues learning new skills and inspirations from working with wood.

The Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council Meryl Gravell said: “It is a huge pleasure to welcome Your Excellency to Carmarthenshire and I am once again delighted to be here at the Scarlets’ stadium. We certainly believe in strong partnership, and we are pleased to see so many business people here today as well as it is important that we trade with as many different countries as we possibly can.

“The only way we will eventually have peace in the world is by getting to know each other, getting to know different countries, and learning about different cultures and we certainly want to support and help each country.

“I hope our partnership will go on from strength to strength. As a country we are very much into regeneration and this stadium is an example of that I would like to invite you back so we can show you more of what’s happening in this county to ensure that people want to visit and as a good place to live and work as well.

“This gift from Carmarthenshire to you is representative of us here in Carmarthenshire as the tree with branches that will reach out to the whole world. So we give this part of our tree to you your Excellency and we hope you can take it back to your own country.”

Chief Executive of the Scarlets, Mark Davies said: “Heart and Soul Rugby Country offers a warm welcome to all and it’s a genuine honour for us to host his Excellency at our home as part of his visit to Wales. We know our cultures and languages both date back to the fifth and sixth centuries and we share a deep cultural mythology. Today, we share our proud rugby heritage with you and I know there is an appetite and desire to embrace the values unique to rugby to help develop young people in your country.

“We will be pleased to share and the structures we have used to develop our talent to inspire participation in sport and create aspiration to the young people in our own societies, and this is a responsibility taken very seriously indeed by both the Scarlets and Carmarthenshire County Council.

“Fortunately, it seems news of the success in developing rugby talent from within our region is not only reaching across our own country and the UK but further afield to Romania as well. The ethos to invest in young sporting talent from our own roots is something which is at the heart of our goals and pride as a business both on and off the field and drives us to get better at what we do and what we want to achieve here at Parc y Scarlets.”

The visit was supported and orchestrated with the assistance of the Honorary Consul for Romania in Wales, Mr Clive Williams.