Opinion
There is a light
By: Cristina Dragomirescu Duschek
At the recent Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, Cristina Dragomirescu Duschek sees Dinu Patriciu, Romania's richest man, walking head and shoulders above leading politicians
Posted: 10/11/2009
When Dinu Patriciu speaks, people tend to listen.
In the current maelstrom perpetuated by Romania's political class, it is easy to lose sight of the good things, and potential for good, happening all around this country. The nearsightedness that prevails as a result of this harmattan haze has been allowed to linger too long.
We have become conditioned by distractions and pettiness, missing in the process the trees from the forest. This country needs visionaries and mavericks - people who are passionate about ideas, and who thrive on taking risks and creating big things. Here the American model (just think Obama), as exemplified by the recent Atlantic Council-organised Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, can be handy.
Conferences are a good opportunity for self-development. They can also measure the pulse of a given population's mental alertness and buoyancy. This first conference of its kind in the region (Istanbul's has its turn in 2010) was remarkable for the imbalance displayed between high-powered speakers from outside Romania and (the lack of) our own. There is no doubt that as Nato's think tank, the Council has prioritises showcasing United States leadership in transatlantic relationships. In US style, it spared no effort in landing on these shores an impressive army of policy experts and executives: various former Ambassadors to the EU (Richard Morningstar, C. Boyden Gray), Senators (Chuck Hagel), the Chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, the top expert in charge of energy policy at the European Commission, CEOs from OMV, Eni, Enel, and many others. Those who understand good journalism would have appreciated the presence of Fred Kempe, a former top journalist at the Wall Street Journal and currently CEO of the Atlantic Council.
America is far from perfect but it operates as a meritocracy. Cream tends to rise to the top. Creativity and innovation are encouraged. Conference participants would have had the chance to meet US entrepreneurs, like W.A. Fitzhugh Lee, whose company, Green Source Energy LLC, pioneers enhanced fossil fuel recovery technology (including hydrocarbon reclamation) to help provide green source energy. They would have attended panels on the future of energy security, the role of the Black Sea in the international energy arena and even heard intelligent talk from experts from Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
The timid Romanian contingent barely kept together the first day, when Mircea Geoana, who is rather fluent in Western company, and Crin Antonescu opened the conference. The president should have attended but after signing the order to fire the Minister of Internal Affairs in the morning, he disappeared to Cluj. Later that evening, at a private dinner that gathered those dignitaries who helped bring Nato here, it was the dons of previous administrations who provided grace with good speeches and diplomacy - former president Emil Constantinescu, former prime ministers Adrian Nastase and Petre Roman.
The second and last day of the conference was also so-called Black Friday, when the Socialists withdrew their ministers and the Democrats took over the open seats, some as double ministries - creating an even more acute vacuum of leadership. During the closing panel of the conference, it was painful to sit through the Communist-era platitude spewed by a ministry bureaucrat dispatched at the last minute, seemingly to punch the time card. One brief highlight in an earlier panel had been Sergiu Celac, several times Romania's ambassador abroad - he spoke eloquently about the various energy paradigms around the world, from Russia, China, the United States to the EU. Sad is the day when we mourn former politicians because their replacements failed us.
And yet there is hope. The rainmaker at the conference was one of Romania's own, Dinu Patriciu. Poised and measured, Mr Patriciu cut a dashing figure throughout the event. When he spoke, Americans listened. This country's wealthiest man needs no introduction to Vivid's readers. There are a few noteworthy things, however, that came to light about Mr Patriciu. A member of the Council's International Advisory Board, he recently established the first Washington, DC-based Atlantic Council Eurasia Energy Center, which provided the impetus for this conference.
In other words, Mr Patriciu brought the Atlantic Council to Bucharest. Why? Because he told us he wants to put Romania on the world map. Because he wants to shake up Romania and help provide a future for the young generation. The generously endowed Dinu Patriciu Foundation, which provides educational opportunities to talented Romanian youth, is only one example. Mr Patriciu's lengthy CV, as available at the conference, is worth reading, only to grasp the things he has been up to, while other Romanians slept, to paraphrase the title of JFK's book, While England Slept. It isn't fabulous wealth that makes Mr Patriciu unique in this country, it's his worldliness. Romania needs more such characters in order to be taken seriously and engage at higher levels abroad.
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