Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (in picture, left), who attended a conference in Bucharest on Monday (March 26 ), said countries like Romania teach the world what freedom means, but also, that Romania's problems are also known to the entire world. Blair mentioned the infrastructure issues and the bickering that dominates political debate.

Romania should learn from other countries and focus on developing consistent rules that people accept, while exploiting the intellectual and financial resources the world offers, said Blair, the main guest at the conference "The Future of Europe in the new global order".

“You went through immense change in the last 20 to 25 years. We had changes too. We learned a lot from each other, and in fact, if you think about it, you have a huge economic potential,” said Blair in response to a question about the connection between Romania and UK.

The conference was organized by the Multimedia Foundation for Local Democracy and the Center for American Progress

Participants in the event included former president Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu, president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Victor Ponta (in picture, right), and former PMs Petre Roman, Victor Ciorbea and Călin Popescu Tăriceanu. PSD invited Blair over.

Tony Blair served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. He was an MP from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. As dictated by tradition, he stepped down as PM after leading the Labour party to a third  consecutive general election victory in 2007 and resigned from all other leadership positions, as well as giving up his seat in the house of commons. He is know for his pro-US policy and close ties to former US president Bill Clinton.

editor@romania-insider.com