Honorable Minister Odobescu,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished members of the Diplomatic Core,
Dear guests,
On behalf of the Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to welcome you at the National Bank of Romania. I wish to congratulate the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their initiative to organize this anniversary conference: ‘Romania in NATO: 20 years of Security and Euro-Atlantic Values’. It emphasizes Romania’s role as a NATO member country and its route of economic development and political integration in the European Union and the NATO Alliance, two pillars of stability, security and progress.
NATO celebrated on April, 4th, 75 years since the founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty. April has a special significance for the National Bank of Romania, too. This year, on April, 17th, our central bank celebrated 144 years since it was founded.
Romania is privileged to be a full member of NATO - aligned in vision and in spirit to the Euro-Atlantic values of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law - in the current global challenging context. We do remember the NATO Summit in Prague, in November 2002, when our country was invited to join the North Atlantic Alliance and the day that Romania became an official NATO member by depositing the ratification instruments to the U.S. Department of State, on March 29th, 2004.
Romania's valued political, conceptual, practical and operational contributions to NATO are clearly reflected in its long-standing engagements. The 20 year anniversary of Romania’s membership to NATO testifies to a strong unitary message regarding Romania's European and Euro-Atlantic identity.
In recognition of Romania's special role as a committed NATO member country, under the theme ‘20 Years Since the Romania’s Accession to NATO’, the National Bank of Romania issued today, April, 29th, a celebratory silver coin, with a face value of 10 RON, weighing 31.103 grams, as well as a coppered tombac coin, with a face value of 1 RON, weighing 23.5 grams.
The obverse of the coins depicts the Romanian institution that ratified the Accession Treaty – the Palace of Parliament –, the inscription “ROMANIA” in a circular arc, the face value (10 LEI for the silver coin and 1 LEU for the coppered tombac coin), and the year of issue ‘2024’.
The reverse of the coins has the NATO logo, the inscription in Romanian “ADERAREA ROMANIEI LA NATO”, and ‘2004’ – the year of Romania’s accession to NATO. The maximum mintage of the silver and coppered tombac coins are 5,000 coins each.
I will conclude my brief address thanking you for your attention!
I would like to invite Her Excelency, Ms. Luminița Odobescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to take the floor.
București, 29 aprilie 2024