President Klaus Iohannis will go on a tour of Africa, where he will visit four countries next week. This is the third tour of the head of state this year after Asia and South America. The Recorder’s investigation revealed that some of the president’s foreign trips, the cost of which is kept secret by the Presidential Administration, end up costing even more than a million euros.

The presidential administration announced Tuesday evening that Klaus Iohannis will make a series of visits to Africa from November 14 to 23: state visits to Kenya, Tanzania and Cape Verde, and an official visit to Senegal.

How the President’s Administration motivates the African tour

According to the Presidential Administration, Iohannis’ visits to Africa represent “the first political-diplomatic approach at this level in the last 30 years and aim to restore Romania’s relations with the African continent, both in our country’s direct relations with African states and as part of efforts , shared at the European level, in the wider context of the need to revive relations between the European Union and Africa in the spirit of a new partnership”: “Thus, these visits are aimed at reviving high-level political dialogue from the mentioned states and revitalizing economic and sectoral relations aimed at opening and use of new opportunities for cooperation in areas of common interest, including management of global challenges.”

The administration of the president also notes that the approach of Klaus Iohannis “occurs in a period of deepening and diversification of relations with African partners, in a context in which in the last decade the African continent as a whole acquires an increasingly expressive profile on the international level.”

“The new history of Romania is a favorable factor for reestablishing the connection with the African space”

• “Africa’s new international prominence is also demonstrated by the increasing interest of global actors, combined with increased trade and investment, as well as cooperation in areas such as development or security. In this context, Romania has its own significant, distinct contribution to the implementation of the Euro-African strategic partnership in the spirit of pragmatic, honest and balanced cooperation between equal partners.
• The visits to Africa are even more important in the context of Romania’s recently adopted National Strategy for Africa, entitled “Romania-Africa: Partnership for the Future through Peace, Development and Education, a Vision Framework”, through which our country proposes to revive relations with Africa and bring them to a higher level, in accordance with the interests of Romania and the growing importance of Africa at the international level.
• The special tradition of Romanian-African relations is a good reason to strengthen Romania’s relations with Africa on a new basis, in accordance with the current state of our country.
• In addition, Romania’s recent history is a favorable factor for reconnecting with the African space, including in terms of accumulated experience and lessons learned in the process of transition to modernity characterized by democracy, market economy, rule of law and respect for human rights . In addition, Romania has a clear traditional profile in relation to Africa in the field of education, peace and security, as well as in the field of economic cooperation, which needs to be given more attention in the future,” the Presidential Administration notes.

What meetings will Johannis have on the tour of Africa

According to the quoted source, on the occasion of the state visit to Kenya, Klaus Iohannis will hold bilateral political consultations with President William Ruto and participate in a meeting with the Executive Director of the UNEP Environment Program (UN Office in Nairobi). Official documents on environment and political cooperation will also be signed and a Romanian donation to a Kenyan school, a donation from Romania’s development aid program, will be inaugurated.

During his state visit to Tanzania, Yohannis will hold political consultations with President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The state visit to Cape Verde will be an occasion for consultations between the President of Romania and the President of Cape Verde, Jose Maria Neves. The official program will also include meetings with the President of the National Assembly, Austelino Tavares Correia, the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, José Ulysses Correia e Silva, and the Mayor of Praia, Francisco Avelino Carvalho. Klaus Iohannis will also meet with former students from Cape Verde who studied in Romania.

During his visit to Senegal, Yohannis will hold political consultations with the President of Senegal, Macky Sall. Also, the official program of the visit includes, among other things, the participation of Klaus Iohannis together with President Macky Sall in the ceremonial opening of the UN House in Senegal, which will host 34 UN agencies present in Senegal. The program of the visit will also include a meeting of President Klaus Iohannis with former Senegalese students in Romania, the Presidential Administration reports.

“The President of Romania will analyze unprecedented security challenges with his interlocutors”

• “The President of Romania, in dialogue with high-ranking officials of the countries he will visit, will continue to define measures to develop commercial relations and increase economic exchanges; strengthening sectoral cooperation in areas of common interest, such as agriculture and food safety, emergency management, cyber security, digital infrastructure, strengthening Romania’s profile as a provider of education and training, starting with the tradition of cooperation in this field with African countries; stimulating continued cooperation in multilateral and international formats.
• Given the current complex global context, the President of Romania will analyze with his interlocutors unprecedented security challenges at the regional and international levels. President Klaus Iohannis will present the impact of the conflict caused by Russia in the immediate vicinity of our country, as well as at the global level, with an emphasis on refugee management, as well as Romania’s contribution to global food security.
• It will be emphasized the need for the joint struggle of all UN member states with tendencies to challenge or undermine the fundamental principles of multilateralism and international law, primarily those enshrined in the UN Charter.
• At the same time, the President of Romania will emphasize the need to counter the phenomenon of disinformation at the global level,” Cotrocenul said.

Other topics on the agenda of discussion indicated by the President’s Administration: combating climate change, sustainable development, reducing social inequality, democratic consolidation and promotion of human rights and other challenges of the transition period, such as: difficulties in providing enough decent jobs for young people, integration women in the labor market and in public life, reforming and modernizing agriculture, as well as electoral reforms.

This is the third tour of the head of state this year, after Asia (March) and South America (April).

Klaus Johannis’ most expensive visits – The Recorder’s Investigation

A new Recorder investigation shows that some of President Klaus Iohannis’s foreign trips, the cost of which is kept secret by the presidential administration, ended up costing even more than a million euros. The Presidency refuses to disclose the expenditure, even though it is public money. Recorder consulted with market experts and approximated the cost of flights, taking into account their public information (location, departure time, destination, etc.) available on platforms such as FlightRadar24.

Recorder journalists also show that the president of Romania was the only one in the European Union who decided to go to the coronation of King Charles III on a private plane. The cost of the flight, which had a stopover in Sibiu, was approximately 85,000 euros, the Recorder reports. This is in the context of the fact that the presidents of such countries as Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia or Finland spent about two to three thousand euros on a trip to Great Britain, that is, 40 times less than what the administration of the president of Romania spent.

Reporters-recorders show that the flight of Johannis to dinner in Rotterdam on an air sleeper plane (although the flight lasted only two hours) with a crew of three people and six passengers cost 170,000 euros. Flight Bucharest – Reykjavik – Sibiu, at an international meeting heads of state: more than 260,000 euros.

According to Recorder journalists, the Asian and South American tour of President Iohannis with a visit to Sibiu cost more than a million euros.

Similar expenses in the case of the president’s visit to Latin America: Brazil, Chile and Argentina: approximately 1.2 million euros.

When he was flying, also by private plane, to Brussels for a meeting of the European Council with a stopover in Sibiu, Iohannis left Bucharest, stopped in Sibiu and then landed in Brussels. From there, he returned to Romania, to Constanta (without an official schedule), and the expenses amounted to more than 200,000 euros.

The record also shows that when Yohannis was asked about the secrecy of information about his foreign travel expenses, he said that “It’s the law,” although that’s not true because there’s no law that says that information has to be public. secrets