Initiatives recently launched by Dumitru Bârsan, president of the Alliance Strategy for Romania (ASR), in the areas of the diaspora, entrepreneurship and international relations are beginning to generate contacts outside political circles.

An entrepreneur who has lived in the Netherlands for many years and the founder of ASR, Dumitru Bârsan has focused part of his recent public activity on a simple idea: Romania can make better use of the diaspora’s experience, entrepreneurs’ capacity and international economic and cultural ties.

Against that background, recent weeks have seen contacts with representatives of the business, cultural and diplomatic communities interested in the projects and directions Bârsan has promoted in public.

A recent example is the writer Ștefan Dumitrescu, an author with several decades of literary work, who contacted Dumitru Bârsan directly to ask for help in identifying ways to promote Romanian literature abroad.

The request followed public appearances by the ASR president on developing dialogue between Romania and China and promoting Romanian values overseas.

Bârsan says, however, that such contacts should be handled with caution and professionalism.

“I am glad when people from different fields contact us and come with ideas. We cannot promise that we can solve every request, and that should not be the role of a political organisation. We can, however, listen, verify and, when serious projects exist, try to put the right people in touch. Romania has a great many valuable people who sometimes need not favours, but an open door,” Dumitru Bârsan said.

From the diaspora to the economy and culture

The same approach is found in the “Aproape de Români” (“Close to Romanians”) project, an initiative initially directed at the Romanian community in the Netherlands.

The concept starts from direct contact with Romanians in the diaspora and from identifying the concrete problems they face: work, relations with employers, access to information, guidance towards the competent institutions, or the difficulties encountered by those trying to start a business.

The stated objective is a gradual expansion of the network, depending on the presence of serious people who want to get involved.

In parallel, Bârsan has begun to promote more pragmatic economic and cultural relations between Romania and China, including through projects concerning logistics infrastructure, the Port of Constanța, agriculture and the possibility of attracting investment.

An appeal to professionals who have something to build

Dumitru Bârsan’s message is that the projects under development remain open to people from outside politics.

Entrepreneurs, economists, teachers, engineers, agricultural specialists, transport operators, diaspora representatives, people in the cultural field and Romanian professionals at home or abroad who have concrete projects can enter the conversation.

“I am not looking for people who agree with me on every point. Romania also needs people who ask difficult questions, who bring experience and who can show that an idea works. If someone has a serious project for Romania, I want to hear it. And if we cannot help, we must have the honesty to say so.”

For Bârsan, the next stage is to develop a network in which the experience of Romanians at home and in the diaspora can be connected with concrete economic, social and cultural projects.

The central idea is that dialogue should not remain confined to politics, but should reach the people who build, invest, create and know the problems on the ground.

RoAdevăr will follow the development of these initiatives and the projects that emerge from the new collaborations.

Source consulted: Aproape de Români