Romania - Russia joint commission on return of Romanian Treasure from Moscow to resume works

[Arizona Coin Collector]

FROM:
http://www.financiarul.ro/2009/03/02/romania-russia-joint-commission-on-return-of-romanian-treasure-from-moscow-to-resume-works/

Romania - Russia joint commission on return of Romanian
Treasure from Moscow to resume works

The Romania-Russia joint commission on the recovery of
the Romanian Treasure from Moscow is to resume works
after a three-year break, Romanian Foreign Minister
Cristian Diaconescu announced on Feb. 28. "A
semi-governmental commission is looking into the issue
of the Treasure; the commission has been operational
for a given time, but dialogue was then halted for
three years. I discussed the subject with
Mr. Lavrov.

The Russian side said they would release the adequate
signal,' Cristian Diaconescu told the Realitatea TV
channel upon his return from a visit to Moscow on
Friday. The Romanian ForMin mentioned that Moscow is
to host the next round of negotiations. "The ball is
in their court, it's us who should state our case
clearer and better define our motivation,' he said.

The Treasure is a foreign policy issue of the ruling
program of the PSD - PD-L power-sharing
coalition; among others, the program provides that
between 2009-2012 Romania will attempt to recover the
Treasure from Moscow and that this will be a priority
of the government that is to take 'steady political
and diplomatic approaches towards recovering the
Romanian Treasure from Moscow.'

The Romania-Russia joint commission on the
investigation of issues arisen from bilateral
relations - the Treasure issue included - held its
first plenary session in October 2004, in Bucharest.
This is a body established following the
July 4, 2003 joint declarations of the Romanian and
Russian Foreign Ministers and is an additional
cooperation forum for Romanian and Russian scientists.
The commission convened in 2005 and 2006, but with no
concrete results. At the end of 1916, during WW I,
the Romanian government decided to send the Treasure
to Russia for safekeeping.

Of the 1,740 crates, only three contained gold bars
with the BNR seal imprinted on them; the rest
contained gold coins, the Crown Jewels, paintings
and other valuables. Under an agreement between the
Romanian and the Russian government of the time, the
94 tons of precious load were to be kept safely in
Kremlin, but the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution nixed all
protocols sealed with the Tsarist Government, driving
the former empire into chaos.

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