THE ROMANIAN INSTITUTE OF EURO-ASIAN STUDIES announces with deep regret the passing into eternity of its Honorary Member, the career diplomat, Ambassador by presidential decree, His Excellency MARCEL DINU, after over forty-two years of outstanding activity in Romanian diplomacy, in which he stood out as an authoritative specialist in bilateral relations, with a thorough training in the field of multilateral relations.

He has effectively contributed to the development of Romania's relations with states in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Based on his edifying expertise, he has coordinated Romania's diplomatic efforts over twenty years at UNIDO and MFA, first as Director, and then State Secretary. H.E. Dinu was Romania's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Moldova and Egypt.

Between 1990 and 2002, as Director, State Secretary in the MFA, then State Secretary of the Romanian Government, late Ambassador Marcel DINU participated and dedicated himself to Romania's special and privileged relations with the Republic of Moldova. He directly contributed to the drafting of the Declaration of Recognition of the Independence of the Republic of Moldova and was the initiator of the first projects for developing relations with the Republic of Moldova, which he coordinated from the position of Head of the Interministerial Committee and the Romanian Government Office for the Republic of Moldova, as well as ambassador to Chisinau. He represented Romania at the quadripartite meetings on Transnistria. He was in charge of organizing the MFA of the Republic of Moldova and training the young diplomats of the young independent state from the position of advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova. He accompanied Presidents Mircea Snegur, Petru Lucinschi and Vladimir Voronin during their visits to Bucharest.

Ambassador Marcel Dinu was a fine analyst, with deep and objective vision, of the international political arena. As Secretary of State, he coordinated the analysis activities of the Ministry's Headquarters as well as in the diplomatic missions abroad, at which time Romania laid the foundations for joining EU and NATO.

Ambassador Marcel Dinu was engaged, efficiently and productively, in the issue of high sensitivity of the Middle East Peace Process, participating in Romania's efforts to resolve conflicts in this area, by preparing documents and actively participating in negotiations with all parties involved (Israel, Palestinian Authority and other Arab states). Today, the Romania's role in the Middle East Peace Process continues to be appreciated by these states, and not only.

Ambassador Marcel Dinu directly participated in Romania's efforts to get closer to the Non-Alignment Movement, as well as to the "Group of 77" (G77, a UN coalition of 134 developing countries). He led the Romanian delegation to the Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned States in Lima (1974), at which our country received guest status and was part of the Romanian delegations to the High Level Conferences of the Non-Aligned Movement in Colombo, New Delhi, Havana and Harare.
He coordinated Romania's relations with the International Organisation of La Francophonie, participating in its high-level meetings and ministerial conferences.

Late Ambassador DINU was the personal representative of the Romanian Foreign Minister at the South-East European Cooperation Process, during Romania's presidency of this subregional cooperation forum. He drafted and negotiated with the representatives of the other participating states the Charter of Good Neighborhood Relations, Security and Cooperation in South-Eastern Europe, the first multilateral cooperation political document in the region, signed in Bucharest in February 2000 by the heads of state and government of the participating countries.

Ambassador Marcel Dinu was a distinguished professional diplomat and a talented diplomatic negotiator in all the missions and positions he held with outstanding contributions in promoting Romania's national interests. A credible diplomat, through prestige, stateliness and expertise, he earned very special appreciations from foreign partners.

Entirely dedicated to fulfilling the diplomatic mandates and tasks entrusted to him in promoting and defending the national interests of Romania in relation to other countries, Ambassador Marcel Dinu had deep patriotic feelings and highest responsibility.
Ambassador Marcel Dinu was a valued counselor, a particularly pleasant, very close colleague and a charming husband, father and grandfather.