Debate on Intellectual Cooperation at the Romania National Commission for UNESCO
Article published on 07-03-2024
The National Commission of Romania for UNESCO organized yesterday, March 5th, 2024, a roundtable titled "Intellectual Cooperation - Romanian Personalities and Contributions: Cultural and Scientific Diplomacy from a Female Perspective."
During the event, significant figures of Romania's intellectual cooperation were discussed, with a special emphasis on female presences and contributions, in the context of the 50th anniversary of Ana Aslan's admission to the Academy (an anniversary recorded in the official UNESCO calendar for 2024) and the 160th anniversary of Elena Văcărescu's birth.
The debate was moderated by Madlen Șerban, Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO.
The roundtable was opened by Mrs. Janina Sitaru, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who highlighted the continuous effort of Romanian diplomacy to promote the activities of women in the cultural and research fields, internationally:
`In recent years, Romanian diplomacy has demonstrated its constant and full commitment to protecting and promoting women's rights, as well as implementing international legal instruments in the field. The protection and promotion of women's rights are constants in the activity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both as foreign policy objectives and as institutional objectives consistently pursued. Feminine diplomacy in Romania also has traditions and prestigious representatives, such as Elena Văcărescu, the only woman to hold the rank of ambassador in the history of the League of Nations, and Martha Bibescu, a key figure in literature, diplomacy, and the interwar aristocracy. At the same time, both Eliza Leonida Zamfirescu, the first female engineer in Romania and among the first in the world, and Ana Aslan, a Romanian biologist and physician who laid the foundations of the geriatric field globally, have been, through their work, true ambassadors of Romanian scientific research`.
Mrs. Simona Miculescu, Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO and President of the UNESCO General Conference, stressed the need for Romanian initiatives in the field of cultural and scientific diplomacy to be more vigorously communicated in the international arena. She presented the Executive Council's resolution of UNESCO, which Romania joined, inviting member states to engage in the effort to conserve UNESCO's archives:
`We can be proud that, in the last century, Romania has made a remarkable and almost continuous contribution to the international intellectual dialogue and cooperation, whether we refer to the International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation, and its executive body - the International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation, or, later to UNESCO , this time at the intergovernmental level.
The names of Nicolae Titulescu, Elena Văcărescu, or George Oprescu have remained in the world's memory as very illustrative for those times and contexts, alongside Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Béla Bartók, Thomas Mann, or Paul Valéry.
After the Second World War and Romania's accession to UNESCO, our country continued to be extremely active, leaving its mark on many of the themes on the organization's agenda, through the activity of distinguished diplomats, such as Valentin Lipatti, whose centenary we celebrated a year ago.
We have an honorable tradition that we must continue!`
The rector of the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Professor Remus Pricopie, recalled the activities of Mircea Malița, a distinguished diplomat and Minister of Education (February 1970 – October 1972), whose name is associated with significant activities at the UNESCO level, such as the establishment of CEPES in Bucharest. Professor Mircea Duțu, Director of the Legal Research Institute of the Romanian Academy, reviewed the founding figures of Romanian intellectual cooperation, as well as the role played by jurists in this field. Mrs. Ioana Apostol, scientific researcher at the "G. Oprescu" Institute of Art History, identified the main milestones of George Oprescu's activities within the League of Nations' Intellectual Cooperation Organization. Mr. Cosmin Nasui, art historian, outlined a political profile of Ligia Macovei, who served as the permanent representative of the People's Republic of Romania to UNESCO (1959-1960). Mr. Cristian Vasile sketched the intellectual network in which Tudor Vianu and Mihail Ralea were active, personalities who were involved with the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO.
The main highlights of Ana Aslan's rich activities in the field of scientific diplomacy, an anniversary listed in the UNESCO global calendar for 2024, were retraced by Professor Gabriel Prada, from the National Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Mrs. Theodora Barbulescu, Ana Aslan's former chief of staff, and Mrs. Magdalena Ionescu, her personal doctor.
The lesser-known aspects of Elena Văcărescu's activities in the field of women's rights were presented by Mr. Doru Liciu, minister-counselor, head of the Diplomatic Archives Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Monica Joița, minister-counselor at the Diplomatic Archives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, advocated for a critical edition of Elena Văcărescu's writings. Mrs. Alina Pavelescu, deputy director of the National Archives, outlined a portrait of Martha Bibescu as revealed by documents, beyond the public myths, and Mrs. Georgiana Pogonaru, president of the Cultural Heritage Association for the Future, presented the documentary film "
Martha Bibescu, the Nymph of Europe", written and directed by Sabina Pop, made with unique archival materials and made available to the public for free by the association.
This event continues the efforts of the CNR UNESCO, under the coordionation of Codrin Tăut, to promote Romanian intellectual cooperation initiatives alongside the International Committee for Intellectual Cooperation and UNESCO, realized through the debate "A Century of Romanian Intellectual Cooperation" (September 30, 2021), the publication of the volume with the same name A Century of Romanian Intellectual Cooperation. Historical and Diplomatic Milestones, by ProUniversitaria publishing house (December 2022), and the roundtable dedicated to the centenary of the diplomat and cultural figure Valentin Lipatti (March 23, 2023).
The event that marked the presence of women in diplomacy, being organized around International Women's Day, hosted also the photo exhibition ”Women’s eyes”, by Soroptimist International in Romania, a NGO founded in 1921, having an ongoing presence at the United Nations centres in New York, Geneva and Vienna, UNESCO in Paris, the FAO in Rome, and UNEP in Nairobi.
