Report on Romanian bilateral relations with the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and East Germany.

MAIN ASPECTS REGARDING THE BILATERAL RELATIONS OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ROMANIA WITH THE USSR, THE BULGARIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, THE HUNGARIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, THE CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, THE POLISH PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, AND THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

(1 January 1968 – 15 March 1969)

The bilateral relationships of the SR of Romania with the member-states of the Warsaw Treaty continued to develop, exhibiting – however – inequalities from country to country and from time to time as a result of the special events that occured both internationally and in the relationships between the socialist countries.

The relationships with the USSR, Bulgarian PR, Hungarian PR, Czechoslovak SR, Polish PR, and German DR became, in certain respects, more restricted as a consequence of the stand taken by these countries, namely directly linking the development of bilateral relationships with the manifestation of differences of opinions on a number of important international issues (the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the evolution of the situation in Czechoslovakia, the conflict in the Middle East). We mention, in addition, that although the Hungarian party manifested certain reserves, the defining note in the relationships with our country was positive. The relationships with the Czechoslovak SR intensified significantly.

1. High-level contacts could only be established with the Czechoslovak SR (the visits to Prague of the two delegations headed by comrade Nicolae Ceausescu, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party).

Although the Romanian party took the initiative, the visits of the party and state delegations from the USSR, Bulgarian PR, Hungarian PR, Polish PR, and German DR were postponed. Moreover, the visits of parliamentary delegations or of public organizations were also postponed for a time.

Our party leadership manifested a permanent preoccupation as regards maintaining direct contacts with the communist parties of the six countries both in the form of working meetings at the level of member of the Permanent Presidium and the Secretariat of the Central Committee and on the occasion of more important manifestations organized by the latter (congresses, anniversary memorials).

Special attention was also paid to the participation in multilateral debates about issues of common interest, for example at the meeting of the Consultative Political Committee of the Warsaw Treaty, which took place at Sofia, by numerous bi- and multilateral contacts within the framework of COMECON.

Simultaneously, a number of socialist countries continued to have the tendency – even strongly emphasized in certain periods – of initiating and organizing multilateral actions without consulting with our party and government (the meetings at Dresden, Moscow, Warsaw, and Bratislava).

Nevertheless, especially in the last five months, some kind of initiative and a greater receptivity were noticed on the part of all the member-countries of the Warsaw Treaty as regards the development of bilateral contacts.

Throughout the year 1968 and during the first part of 1969, approximately a hundred and fifty contacts took place at governmental level and at the level of leaderships of central and public institutions in the six countries. This number does not include the forty-one visits for exchanges of experience at party level, of which the majority were visits paid by delegations of the Romanian Communist Party. We underline the fact that while the Romanian party strove to treat the invitations received attentively, the cases where there was no reply to the invitations from partners in the socialist countries being rare, a number of about forty invitations sent out to some members of governments and leaders of central institutions in the socialist countries were declined, most of them by partners in the USSR, Polish PR, Hungarian PR, and German DR.

Numerous contacts were also established with foreign affairs ministries, at minister level (German DR, Czechoslovak SR), deputy minister level (USSR, Polish PR, Hungarian PR, Czechoslovak SR, Bulgarian PR, German DR). On these occasions, exchanges of experience were conducted both relating to the unilateral relationships and the continuation of the practice of mutual informing and consulting about international issues.


II. The Romanian party attached appropriate political importance to the celebration of events in the life of socialist countries or relating to bilateral relations.

Invitations were accepted that were received for participating in manifestations such as the 90th anniiversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke, the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Hungarian Socialist Party, the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic (led by Béla Kun), the 50th Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party, the 50th anniversary of the Komsomol, the 20th anniversary of the events in Czecho-slovakia in February, 1948; the festivities on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Walter Ulbricht's birthday, etc. The occasions, as well as the celebration in our country of the national holidays have been used by the Romanian party to bring out, both for the partner – by an attentive and principled attitude – and for the public opinion in our country, by large-scale publicity, the common character of the social system and of the ideology, the common interests and supreme goal of all the socialist countries.

The attention paid to our country by the USSR, the Polish PR, the Hungarian PR, the Bulgarian PR, and the German DR on the occasion of our national holiday, August 23, was, however, low-key.


III. The actions undertaken by the party and state leadership for the multilateral development of the collaboration with all of the socialist countries included the conclusion of a large number of collaboration instruments which have widened the juridical basis of the links established to date.

The Friendship, Collaboration, and Mutual Assistance Treaty with the Czechoslovak SR was signed and ratified, similar treaties with the USSR, the Polish PR, the Hungarian PR, the Bulgarian PR, and the German DR were initialed, it was commonly agreed upon to start negotiations with the Polish PR for the renewal of the Treaty, and with the German DR for the conclusion of the first treaty of this kind.

Within this period, our country concluded agreements for a total of seventy new collaboration instruments, among which – besides the Treaties indicated above – we mention: the Agreements regarding the international road passenger transport with the USSR, the Polish PR, and the German DR; the Cultural-Scientific Collaboration Agreement with the Czechoslovak SR; the Collaboration Convention in the Field of Radio and Television with the USSR; the Phyto-sanitary Convention with the Polish PR; the Customs Collaboration Convention with the Hungarian PR and others.


IV. The commercial exchanges witnessed an ascending evolution, the fact being positive that the differences of opinions existing between the socialist countries did not influence, on the whole, the normal development of economic relationships. The provisions of the exchange-of-goods protocols for 1968 were fulfilled and even exceeded: USSR – by 104%; Bulgarian PR – by 110%; Hungarian PR – by 100%; Polish PR – by 101%; German DR – by 104%.

In 1969, the volume of commercial exchanges of the Romanian SR with the six socialist countries is to increase, in comparison with 1968, as follows: USSR – with 5%; Bulgarian PR – with 11%; Hungarian PR – with 12%; Polish PR – 21%; German DR – with 13%.


On the whole, the commercial balance with these countries is balanced. The weight of machinery and equipment in the total volume of Romanian export to the respective countries shows an increase.

The economic collaboration and cooperation with the six countries is still developing at a low level, although some important actions in this direction were achieved, such as, for example: manufacture of sub-assemblies for fine mechanics, chemical, mining, and food industries (Hungarian PR, Polish PR, and German DR), cooperation in the production of railway cars (Hungarian PR), sub-assemblies for the food industry (Polish PR and Bulgarian PR) and others. Measures were taken and terms were established with the Bulgarian PR for the design of the Islaz-Samovit hydrotechnical complex, and an agreement of principle was concluded regarding the building – on Romanian territory – of a 400-kV power transmission network and of a methane-gas pipe-line for the transport of electricity and methane gas, respectively, from the USSR to Bulgaria. In addition, some cooperation works with the USSR are being negotiated or their finalizing is under way, and a significant number of other actions of economic and technical-scientific cooperation are in an advanced stage of negotiation.

Between our country and the six socialist countries, there took place the first bilateral consultations between the planning organs for the purpose of coordinating the national economies and the exchange of goods in the period 1971 through 1975.

An important role in the development of the economic relationships of our country with the member-states of COMECON have the joint intergovernmental commissions for economic cooperation, which met regularly in the above-men-tioned period.

We mention that some socialist countries still have the tendency to give exaggerated priority to multilateral collaboration to the detriment of the bilateral one.


V. The actions in the fields of culture and science, respectively, contributed towards the popularization of Romanian achievements in the six countries, although many meetings and exchanges were postponed or did not take place in certain periods. We mention chiefly the exchanges of representative artistic ensembles and prestigious theater collectives, the film festivals, the exchanges of arts, photography, and book exhibitions, the visits of outstanding cultural personalities, and other actions that contributed towards the knowledge –
on a larger scale – of the achievements in the socialist countries.


The cultural and scientific collaboration plans concluded with the six socialist countries for 1969 stipulate important actions in connection with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Romania's liberation; with the USSR an additional plan will be separately concluded for the celebration of this event.

The fact is worth mentioning that, according to the very declaration of some Hungarian official persons, “the year 1968 has been the richest since the liberation both as regards quality and the volume of cultural and artistic exchanges”.

In 1968, one of the issues that was the object of discussions for several years running found its solution of principle: the opening of culture houses with the Czechoslovak SR and the Hungarian PR. Concurrently, specific ways are being analyzed for the implementation of the decisions of the party and state leadership regarding the setting up, on a reciprocity basis, of libraries in some socialist countries.

Results under the level of other years and of the existing possibilities were obtained in the field of printed works since the works from the literary and technical-scientific fund of the socialist countries published in our country are more numerous than the works from the similar Romanian fund published in the socialist countries.

A trend noticed in the relationships with the six socialist countries is the reduction, by the Romanian party, of the number of students and candidates for an academic degree sent to study in these countries in comparison with the previous periods.


VI. The mutual exchanges in the field of press, radio, and television, although they had continued during this period, did not succeed in contributing towards the improvement of our country's presentation, an exception being the press in the Czechoslovak SR. The propaganda media in the other five countries, especially those in the Polish PR and the German DR, adopted a polemical stand, sometimes tendentiously presenting both the principles of our foreign policy and some actions undertaken by Romania internationally. This stand triggered some actions on the part of our country, among which a public protest addressed to the Polish PR, as well as numerous contacts with the responsible factors in the respective countries, at the most different levels; on these occasions – in a spirit at once constructive and firm – attention was called to the responsibility and the danger which the distorted presentation of reality entailed for the relationships between the socialist countries.

Concurrently, Romanian propaganda consistently pursued our party's principles in the correct mirroring – without resorting to polemic, insults or denigration – of the achievements and states of affairs in all the socialist states. As a result of this policy, the number of inadequate materials about our country diminished in the last period, but they were maintained – however – in the USSR, and the Polish PR, and to a lesser extent in the Hungarian PR, the German DR, and the Bulgarian PR.


VII. In order to promote tourism and ensure the socialist countries an opportunity to know one another better, a Convention was signed with the Czechoslovak SR regarding the abolition of visas; similar negotiations are currently being held with the Polish PR and the USSR.

The attainment of the same objective is pursued by other actions, such as: the opening of the Nadlac frontier point, the conclusion of the Protocol regarding the opening of the Varsand frontier point, the Romanian initiatives intended for facilitating private and tourist travel discussed with the USSR.

The exchanges of tourists did not attain in 1968 the figures for which contracted material conditions existed, for subjective reasons invoked in certain periods by some countries, especially by the USSR, the Polish PR, and the Bulgarian PR. We mention that in the period August-September 1968 the USSR and the Bulgarian PR unilaterally interrupted the exchange of tourists. The Foreign Affairs Ministry of the USSR sent “the most categorical protest” for reasons of minor importance.


VIII. For the period immediately following, actions designed to contribute to the development of Romania's relationships with the six countries were agreed.

1. With the USSR :

· Visit to Romania of the delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (April, 1969);
· Visit to the USSR of the Foreign Affairs Minister of the SR Roma-nia (April, 1969);
· Negotiations referring to the Stânca Costesti hydrotechnical node; rebuilding of the bridge over the river Prut.

2. With the Bulgarian PR :

· Design of the Islaz-Samovit hydrotechnical complex.

3. With the Hungarian PR :

· Participation of a Romanian delegation in the festivities of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Soviet Republic;
· Conclusion of collaboration instruments (air traffic agreement, etc.).


4. With the Czechoslovak SR :

· Exchange of ratification instruments of the Friendship, Collabora-tion, and Mutual Assistance Treaty.


5. With the Polish PR :

· Beginning of the negotiations relating to the Friendship, Collabora-tion, and Mutual Assistance Treaty.


6. With the German DR :

· Beginning of the negotiations relating to the Friendship, Collabora-tion, and Mutual Assistance Treaty.



IX. Some issues that could constitute the object of possible bilateral talks

With a view to develop the relationships of the SR Romania with the six socialist countries, the following issues could be tackled within the frame-work of bilateral talks:

a) Issues common to the relationships of the SR Romania with all the socialist states:
· Stimulation of economic and technical-scientific cooperation;
· Intensification of contacts and direct links between the members of the governments of the respective countries;
· Intensification of efforts with the view to widely mirror, via propaganda means, the achievements of the socialist countries.

b) Issues relating to bilateral relationships specific to the countries:

USSR

· Visit to the SR Romania of party and governmental delegation. On this occasion, the Friendship, Collaboration, and Mutual Assis-tance Treaty. would have to be signed as well;
· Negotiation of collaboration instruments relating to consular work (Convention on the delimitation of the continental plateau, etc.);
· Development of tourism (possibly, the conclusion of conventions in the field).

Bulgarian PR

· Visit to the Bulgarian PR of the party and governmental delegation of the SR Romania. On this occasion the Romanian-Bulgarian Friendship, Collaboration, and Mutual Assistance Treaty is to be signed;
· Conclusion of collaboration instruments (phyto-sanitary convention, etc.).

Hungarian PR

· Visit to the SR Romania of the party and governmental delegation and the signing of the Friendship, Collaboration, and Mutual Assis-tance Treaty.
· Conclusion of collaboration instruments (agreement regarding the frontier small commercial traffic; hydrotechnical convention; road transport agreement; opening of new frontier-crossing points, etc.).

Czechoslovak SR

· Resumption of concrete proposals made on the occasion of the visit to Prague of a high-level delegation in August 1968 in connection with the cooperation in nuclear industry (uranium, nuclear power stations);
· Visit to the Czechoslovak SR of the Foreign Affairs Minister of the SR Romania;
· Conclusion of new collaboration instruments (air-traffic agreement, etc.).

Polish PR

· Visit to the Polish PR of a party and governmental delegation of SR Romania;
· Conclusion of the new Friendship, Collaboration, and Mutual Assistance Treaty;
· Visit to our country of the Marshal of the Seim of the Polish PR;
· Negotiations with the view to conclude collaboration instruments (touristic convention, convention regarding the abolition of visas for official, private, and transit travels, etc.).

German DR

· Stepping up of the resumption of negotiations relating to the conclusion of collaboration instruments (commerce and navigation treaty; cultural agreement; convention regarding visa abolition, etc.).