On the picture Mr. Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sports and Baku 2015 Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Mehriban Aliyeva, First Lady of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Chair of the Baku 2015 European Games Organising Committee, and Mr. Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committees opening the final EOC Coordination Commission visit to Baku.  ©BEGOC   The first edition of the European Games will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, between June 12-28 2015. This large-scale event will welcome 6,000 athletes from 50 National Olympic Committees of Europe, competing in 20 sports. According to senior figures at the leading National Olympic Committees (NOC’s) of Europe, the Baku 2015 European Games is expected to be the biggest multi-sport event on the European calendar this year and the ideal proving ground for athletes ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The Games will take place in 21 stadiums and facilities in Baku and the city of Mingachevir. The official opening ceremony of the games will take place in the 68,000-seat Baku Olympic Stadium. The Athletes Village will accommodate up to 7,300 people. In the beginning of the February this year, Baku has for the 5^th time, received EOC Coordination Commission, charged with overseeing progress towards the inaugural European Games. According to Patrick Hickey, President of the EOC, the European Olympic Committee has expressed satisfaction with all the facilities designed in Baku for the first European Games. He said: “This EOC visit to Baku ahead of the first European Games has confirmed that the city is fully prepared to host an unforgettable event. To have achieved so much in two years is a testament to Azerbaijan’s dedication to hosting the Games, and Europe’s athletes and sport fans will be delighted with the high standard of venues and facilities which await them. Baku 2015 will be the perfect launch-pad for the European Games.”  

Hickey thanked Azerbaijan and Baku 2015 First European Games Organizing Committee for the welcome and reception ceremonies in Baku. He expressed his gratitude to Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijan’s First Lady and Chairperson of BEGOC for the great attention and interest in the work, as well as for her enormous contribution to the design of the uniforms of the volunteers, and to the President Ilham Aliyev, who is also the president of the Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan, for showing great interest in the Games. On February 19, 2015 Baku 2015 European Games also hosted a second briefing for heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Azerbaijan. The event was attended by more than 80 delegates from all 68 diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan, plus a number of non-resident representatives, at the Baku 2015 European Games Operations Committee headquarters. This second diplomatic briefing allowed Baku 2015 staff to update the diplomatic community on the progress towards the upcoming multi-sport event. The games are also of a great interest to Dutch delegation, who expects a successful participation for the Dutch athletes.  According to the Dutch Chef of Mission Jeroen Bijl, he expects a high level participation and NOC * NSF is enthusiastic about the upcoming event and the Netherlands even examines the possibility to host the next European Games in 2019. He believes that the countries participating at the Baku 2015 European Games will take the competition very seriously – just like the Netherlands are. According to the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Netherlands Mr. Mir-Hamza Efendiyev, in recent years Azerbaijan has become a platform for many important international events such as the International Humanitarian and Cultural forums, world championships and other various global events. The Games are being given full governmental support. “I am confident the 1^st European Games in Baku will set up a high bar for the upcoming editions of this prestigious sporting event”- he said.        

By Mete Erducan and Baron Henri Estramant.   Every year the fifty-three Commonwealth nations commemorate their special affiliation by celebrating a “Commonwealth Day”. The “Commonwealth of Nations” is an intergovernmental institution of 53 member states, which mostly belong to the group of former dominions, protectorates and territories of the British Empire. To celebrate this institution, Commonwealth Day is held annually on the second Monday of March. This year the event was commemorated on March 9, 2015. It is traditionally marked by a multi-faith service at Westminster Abbey, and therefore attended by The Head of the Commonwealth; Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty was accompanied by the Commonwealth’s Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kamelesh Sharma, who is also the Indian High Commissioner to the UK.

  This year it was focused on the theme ‘A Young Commonwealth’. The festivities included music and lectures from several people from the Commonwealth nations, the most famous being Her Majesty the Queen herself. Her Majesty stressed the special privilege the Commonwealth nations possess for the possibility of cooperation on a very advanced level; in her own words ‘One simple lesson from history, when people come together to talk, to exchange ideas, and to develop common goals. Wonderful things can happen’. A diplomatic reception was given by the Commonwealth’s Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma at Marlborough House, London. Amongst the most prominent guests were The Head of the Commonwealth, HRH The Prince of Wales, and Malta’s President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and her husband Edgar. President Coleiro Preca met with Her Majesty The Queen and other Commonwealth dignitaries to discuss the forthcoming “Commonwealth Heads of State and Government” summit to be held in Malta in November 2015.      

Judge Fernández de Gurmendi elected ICC President for 2015-2018; Judges Aluoch and Ozaki elected First and Second Vice-President respectively.   Today, 11 March 2015, the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sitting in a plenary session, elected Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina) as President of the Court for a three-year term with immediate effect. Judge Joyce Aluoch (Kenya) was elected First Vice-President and Judge Kuniko Ozaki (Japan) Second Vice-President. “It is a great honour to have been elected President of the International Criminal Court. I will do my utmost to live up to the trust that my fellow judges have placed in me. I look forward to working together with the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Joyce Aluoch and Judge Kuniko Ozaki, and indeed all the judges and other organs of the Court, as well the Assembly of States Parties, civil society and the international community at large, in fulfilling the ICC’s important mandate for the sake of justice, peace and the rule of law”, President Fernández de Gurmendi stated following the election. “I also wish to express my deep appreciation of the outstanding contributions that the previous President, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, and Vice-Presidents Sanji Mmasenono Monageng and Cuno Tarfusser made during their mandate,” she added. The Presidency – consisting of the President and the two Vice-Presidents – plays a key role in providing strategic leadership to the ICC as a whole. The Presidency coordinates with the other organs and seeks the concurrence of the Prosecutor on matters of mutual concern. In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC’s governing treaty, the Presidency is responsible for the proper administration of the Court, with the exception of the Office of the Prosecutor. The Presidency oversees the activities of the Registry and provides input into a broad range of administrative policies affecting the Court’s overall functioning. Furthermore it conducts judicial review of certain decisions of the Registrar and concludes Court-wide cooperation agreements with States and international organizations.    

On the picture H. E.  Ireny Comaroschi, Ambassador of Romania. By Ellen Brager.   Last Friday Diplomat Magazine was present at the Romanian Spring Evening organized by the Romanian Embassy. Ambassador Ireny Comaroschi kindly opened the doors of the Residence to members and friends of the Romanian community in The Hague for an evening of celebrations. The festive mood was set immediately with the gift of a “mărțișor” to all the invitees. According to Romanian tradition the mărțișor, a small pin in the shape of a crocus, is offered on the first of March every year by the men to the women to celebrate the arrival of spring. The guests then assembled for an award ceremony led by Ambassador Comaroschi inspired by International Women’s Day on March 8. Eight remarkable women were honored for their achievements as Romanians in Holland or for their efforts to promote Romanian culture and increase awareness for Romania in general and for their support to newcomers to the Netherlands. Their activities covered different fields. Representing the arts there were Maria Rus Bojan and Genevieve E.M.O. Momma-Wehry, both professional curators; Kim van Haaster, a movie maker who received a special mention for her documentary “Play no matter what“ depicting life in a rural village in East Romania; and Anita Walsmit Sachs, a botanical illustrator recently selected to record the flora of Transylvania through her paintings. For a full photo-album on this event, please click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/sets/72157650855289600/  

  Two other awardees, Marianne van Stekelenburg-Hasenbos and Larisa Isabela Melinceanu, were active in facilitating the integration of foreigners into Dutch society, one by supporting the diplomatic community, while the other focused on helping migrants in extreme situations. There also was an award for Brîndușa Gritu, founder of a Romanian law office and a plastic surgery clinic promoting Romanian medicine. Last but not least, a special introduction was given to Liana Gavrilă Șerbescu, a pianist and piano teacher honored as a developer of children’s musical talents and a promoter of lost and forgotten works by female Romanian composers. Her award was the perfect introduction for the musical treat that followed and that she helped organize. The stage was cleared and six young musicians – three violinists and three pianists – were introduced to the audience. Diana-Maria Murariu was, with nine years old, the youngest of the violinists. She followed her three-year older sister Ioana-Alexandra Murariu in her love for the violin. Both started playing at the age of five and currently study at the Conservatorium in Amsterdam.

  The third violinist, Silviu Tănasă, started his studies in Romania and moved to the Netherlands when he was nine. Now twenty years old he is an amazing violinist of great promise. The youngest piano player was Sebastien Ratering, born in 2006 and taking lessons since he was six. Radu Ratering, who will turn eleven in August, already has an impressive resumé including a performance next to Lang Lang in the Concertgebouw. His friend Stefan Christian Bele, who just turned twelve in December, is not only an extremely talented pianist, but also a composer whose works have been performed in public and have already earned him a spot in the finals of the Princes Christina Compositie Concours to be held in April. It was a real delight to listen to so much talent playing works by well-known classical and Romanian composers, as well as a few of Stefan’s own compositions, with a skill and mastery that belied their young age. In addition to celebrating spring, exceptional women and young talent, the evening also marked the 135^th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations between Romania and the Netherlands. More than enough reasons to raise a glass of excellent Romanian wine. While the guests mingled they could try some special Romanian specialties such as savory little meat balls called “chiftelute”, and a preparation of spinach in puff pastry by the name of “plăcintă”, as well as chocolates and other typical sweets.

When talking to Diplomat Magazine Ambassador Comaroschi stressed that the main purpose of the evening was to celebrate possibilities and promote the future in which she firmly believes, to counter all the negative news with which we are inundated by the media. She certainly succeeded in showing a Romania to be proud of and in sharing the warmth and hospitality of the Romanian people.