Gavin Buchan, Canada’s ambassador to Romania: “There will be fewer Romanians who will emigrate to Canada” EXCLUSIVE

In an exclusive interview for “Adevărul”, Gavin Buchan, Canada’s ambassador to Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, spoke about the reasons why he thinks the number of Romanians who want to emigrate to Canada will decrease, about his impressions of Romania and Romanian economic cooperation. Canadian.

Canada’s ambassador to our country since August 2023, Gavin Buchan has a distinguished diplomatic career spanning over three decades.

With a BA in Philosophy from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1991 and a Masters in International Relations from Queen’s University in 2010, Gavin Buchan joined Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1992.

At headquarters, he worked in the Human Rights Division, the Defense Relations Division and the Policy Development Division. Most recently, he served as Director General for Development Policy, and Special Advisor to the Director General for Development. He also served as Director of NATO and Afghanistan Policy at the Department of National Defense and the Privy Council Office. Abroad, he worked in Prague, The Hague, Kandahar and Amman, also having special assignments in New York, Pristina, Dublin and Tampa.

In 2016, Ambassador Gavin Buchan was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor of Canada for his efforts in establishing democratic structures in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province.

Recently present in Pitesti at the Symphony of Tulips, the largest floral exhibition in Romania, Ambassador Gavin Buchan spoke, in an exclusive interview for “Adevărul”, about the importance of our country and about special memories related to Romania.

THE TRUTH: You have been Canada’s ambassador to Romania since last summer. What were your impressions of Romania before you came here and what are your impressions now?

GARY BUCHAN: Before coming here as ambassador, I had only been to Romania once before, at the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008. And the most special memory from that time is related to the huge dimensions of the Palace of Parliament building. Romania is a country with a very good economic dynamism. And I would like to reveal one more memory from the past. In the 1970s, when I was a child, my father, who was a teacher, came to Romania for a series of readings, through the British Council. And I remember that my father brought me a wooden whistle from Romania that I really liked.

– Which places in Romania do you like the most?

(Smile) As an ambassador, I have to be impartial and not love one place more than another. But I can say that the mountain landscapes in Romania are very beautiful, the Sibiu area and the Olt Valley also left a very pleasant impression on me.

Ambassador Gavin Buchan in dialogue with journalist Denis Grigorescu PHOTO Vadim Utii

– Do you have any favorite words in Romanian?

I speak a little Romanian. But one of the Romanian phrases that I like and that I have memorized is: “Bon appetite!” (Laugh)

– Romania and Canada have a very good collaboration in the nuclear field. How do you see the future of this collaboration?

Romania and Canada already have an impressive history of several decades of cooperation in the nuclear field. We have already signed the contract for the refurbishment project of Unit 1 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant. In addition, Canada will invest three billion dollars to finance two nuclear reactors at Cernavoda. And I am sure that this collaboration in the nuclear field between Romania and Canada will continue at a very good level.

“There are several Canadian companies that want to come to Romania”

– There are many Romanians attracted to Canada who have emigrated and are emigrating to Canada. How do you see the evolution of the emigration process of Romanians in Canada in the medium and long term?

There are 240,000 Romanians in Canada. And Canada accepts around 500,000 immigrants from all over the world every year. We have a great opening, both for emigrants and for people who want to visit Canada. I think that in the future there will be fewer Romanians who will emigrate to Canada for the simple reason that the economic prospects in Romania are good. And Romanians think much more about making a future for themselves in their country compared to, for example, two decades ago. And I think that the large waves of emigration of Romanians to Canada are somehow coming to an end. And that’s a good thing, because it means that life here in Romania is much more promising. And Romania has now come to attract emigrants.

Related to the tourist side, Romanian citizens can travel to Canada for tourist purposes, visa-free, based on the simple electronic passport, from 2017. Any Romanian can travel to Canada for up to six months, only having to obtain an electronic travel authorization. The procedure is very simple, everything is electronic. And thanks to this simple procedure, the number of Romanians visiting Canada has increased in the last seven years.

– Romania ratified in 2020 a comprehensive trade agreement, CETA, which facilitates the agreement that was already working provisionally since 2017, and eliminates almost all tariffs for goods between Romania and Canada. How have the economic relations between Romania and Canada evolved since the ratification of this agreement?

From 2016 to 2022, the value of bilateral trade has increased by 42%. Last year, the value of bilateral trade between Romania and Canada was 930 million Canadian dollars. And we believe that there is a significant potential for growth, the value of trade could exceed one billion Canadian dollars this year.

And there are more Canadian companies that want to come here, especially in the nuclear field. The prospects for the future are very good.