Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BUCHAREST138
2006-01-25 15:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Bucharest
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR VISITS TIMISOARA; UZBEK REFUGEES THANK

Tags:  PGOV PREL PREF PHUM RO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2378
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHBM #0138/01 0251534
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251534Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3506
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 0032
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0025
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0359
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0098
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000138 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE BILL SILKWORTH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM RO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR VISITS TIMISOARA; UZBEK REFUGEES THANK
U.S.


BUCHAREST 00000138 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000138

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE BILL SILKWORTH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM RO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR VISITS TIMISOARA; UZBEK REFUGEES THANK
U.S.


BUCHAREST 00000138 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Summary: Timisoara Mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu on
January 18 described Timisoara as an economically-thriving
city with commercial and cultural links throughout Central
and Western Europe, during the Ambassador's first visit to
the city. Nonetheless, Ciuhandu lamented that the central
government had appropriated "insufficient funding" for
infrastructure for the city, including the lack of highway
links to Bucharest and other major cities. While in
Timisoara, the Ambassador visited Uzbek asylum seekers who
fled from the Andijan region in August 2005 and who are
awaiting relocation to other countries, including the U.S.
The refugees thanked the U.S. for ensuring their safe
departure from the Kyrgyz Republic. The Ambassador also met
high school students at the American Corner hosted by the
Timis County Public Library; a group of Parliament members
representing the city; officials at a mediation center for
alternative dispute resolution established with PD/SEED
funds; and managers and personnel at a manufacturing plant
operated by U.S. firm Solectron. End Summary.


2. (U) Ambassador Taubman visited Timisoara on January 18,
following a trip to Cluj the day before. Romania's fifth
largest city, Timisoara has attracted significant investment
in recent years, particularly from Italy, Austria, and other
EU countries. Many areas of historic central Timisoara are
also undergoing renovation, an indication of the relative
economic success of the city as well as a commitment by local
officials to restore the city to its pre-World War II
prominence in the region.


Mayor Ciuhandu: "We're an International City"
-------------- -

3. (SBU) The Ambassador was greeted by popular Timisoara
Mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu, currently serving in his third term.
Ciuhandu is also president of the small Christian
Democrat-Popular Party, formerly the National
Peasants-Christian Democratic Party. Ciuhandu described
Timisoara as the most "economically thriving" city in
Romania, attracting four times the national average of
investment per capita. He attributed this success largely to

Timisoara's cultural and commercial links outside of Romania,
emphasizing that "we're an international city" while
characterizing other Romanian urban areas as "inward looking"
and in many ways "still unprepared" for the opportunities EU
accession will provide. He also underscored the importance
of the "practical focus" of Timisoara's Polytechnic
University, compared to the more "ivory tower approach" of
many of the country's other top universities, including
Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj. These polytechnic students,
he noted, "feed directly into local industry" and "help fuel
the economy." Ciuhandu noted that unemployment in Timisoara
had dropped to roughly two percent, putting upward pressure
on wages and forcing some employers to seek talented
personnel from other parts of the country, as far away as
Iasi.


4. (SBU) Ciuhandu pointed to the city's airport as an
economic engine, noting that it is the second largest in the
country with direct flights to a number of European cities,
including Milan, Frankfurt, and Vienna. He also attributed
the city's success to a local spirit of entrepreneurship and
its focus on administrative efficiency above partisan
politics. One break on the city's further development,
Ciuhandu lamented, was the failure of the central government
to fund other important infrastructure projects, most
importantly highways. Ambassador Taubman replied that
Timisoara clearly appeared to be "on track" economically, and
expressed hope that other mayors and localities would use the
city's progress as a model.


Uzbek Refugees Thank the U.S.
--------------

5. (SBU) The Ambassador also visited the facility currently
hosting 365 Uzbek refugees whom the Government of Romania
accepted in July 2005, pending their relocation to the U.S.
and other countries. About seventy-five of the refugees had
just received notification the prior day that they would be
resettled in various American cities on January 30 and
February 2. The Uzbeks greeted the Ambassador with applause
and gratitude for U.S. efforts to facilitate their departure
from Kyrgystan and now to help resettle them permanently.
The Uzbeks showed the Ambassador and Mrs. Taubman traditional
handicrafts they are making at the facility, with modest

BUCHAREST 00000138 002.2 OF 002


assistance from USAID, as well as an outdoor oven they had
constructed. At the same time, they expressed apprehensions
about their eventual resettlement to third countries as well
as about the well being of their family members back in
Uzbekistan. Many expressed hope that they could be reunited
with family members once they are permanently settled. The
Ambassador thanked the director of the camp, Col. Livius
Bisca, for the hospitality the Romanians have shown to those
who fled last summer. At a subsequent press conference, the
Ambassador praised Romania's willingness to temporarily
shelter the refugees.


6. (U) The Ambassador toured the American Corner at the Timis
County Library, opened in June 2005. During his visit, local
students involved in a PD/SEED-funded civic education program
briefed the Ambassador on a student government program they
introduced in their high school that involved electing a
student president. Many students hoped to have the
opportunity to study abroad, including the in U.S.


7. (U) Next, the Ambassador also toured the PD/SEED-suppored
Timisoara Mediation Center, where mediators tained under the
program described the challengesof introducing mediation as
an alternative to juicial litigation. The mediators said
they have made some progress but believe that adoption of a
ending law proposed by the Ministry of Justice (wih U.S.
Embassy support) to expand the use of medation in Romanian
courts is critical. The Ambassdor encouraged the Center to
work with businessesto encourage the inclusion of mediation
in legalcontracts as an option for speedier resolution of
disputes.


8. (U) The Ambassador ended his visi to Timisoara with a
tour of Solectron, a Califonia-based electronics
manufacturing company that as picked up some of its business
from companiesthat have relocated their manufacturing from
Chia to Romania for better access to the EU market.TAUBMAN