Embassy Press Release

Remarks Delivered by The Ambassador of the United States of America, Nicholas F. Taubman, On the Occasion of Delta Airline's Launch of Non-stop Service New York to Bucharest

October 12, 2006
At the Hilton Hotel
Bucharest, Romania

Mr. Donciu;

Mr. Jahangir;

I am very pleased to be here today to celebrate the re-connection of our two countries in a very tangible way. This event is certainly symbolic of America's and Romania's "high flying" relationship and a good omen that the relationship will further develop.

Flying in the past decades has become commonplace and quite frankly a bit unexciting for most, despite the fact that we can now journey over great distances to destinations in just a few hours time. I find it interesting that flying across the Atlantic, which nearly everyone in our two countries takes for granted, would have confounded even the great visionaries and inventors of our recent past. Even Orville Wright, co-inventor of the first successful airplane, said that "no flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris ... [because] no known motor can run at the requisite speed for four days without stopping."

Now airplanes go even farther (and happily much faster) than Orville could have imagined. I think Orville would have marveled at the Boeing 767-300 jet (and its engines) that will be making the journey from North America to Europe. Delta's new service from New York City, a city I have long cherished, and Bucharest, a city I have begun to love, will quickly - and directly - bring business people, tourists, politicians and scholars to learn more about our two great cities and about our two great countries as well as to reunite families and friends.

More air passengers and visitors will also inevitably bring more investment, trade, ideas, innovations and understanding. Delta will be flying into an airport that is rapidly becoming a hub for air travel in the region. This is unsurprising, given Romania's key location as a crossroads on the trade routes of Southeast Europe. Millions of passengers already pass through Bucharest's Otopeni airport each year and even more will use the airport in the future.

The United States is one of Romania's leading investors. It is wonderful that Delta is returning to this market to carry the passengers directly to Bucharest who are already investing in this country as well as those who will be looking at Romania with a view to investing in the future. I sincerely hope that this occasion marks the start of a period of increased flows of foreign direct investment and trade in goods and services between our two countries.

Mr. Jahangir, on behalf of the United States Embassy and its staff, I welcome Delta to Bucharest. May your company prosper!

Thank you very much for your attention.

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