Bucharest, March 16th, 2023
Romfilatelia was present today, in the Marble Hall of the National Military Circle, at the ceremony for the Romanian Passport Day, to present the panel and the philatelic issue dedicated to the event. In a solemn atmosphere, the whole audience went through a page of history of this identity document, following its evolution over time, from the “portable card” to today’s electronic passport, 111 years of history and 15 years of biometrics, evoked by Mrs. Cristina-Mihaela Cojocariu, General Director of the General Directorate of Passports.
On March 19th, 1912, King Carol I promulgated the Law on Passports, the first act by which the Romanian state introduced general procedural principles binding for authorities and citizens, related to passports and tickets for border crossing.
We found out that on the mobility scale, the Romanian electronic passport ranks 17th worldwide and allows visa-free entry into 176 countries, with a maximum issuing time of 5 days.
In turn, Cristina Popescu, General Manager of Romfilatelia, described the issue of postage stamps entitled Romanian Passport Day, highlighting the special graphic illustrating the area of free movement – the terrestrial globe – to which are added the Romanian tricolour and a dove carrying a “passport” which in fact are the wings of the bird that carries a message of peace and safety to the world.
The outline graphics for the globe, dove and passport are printed in UV-visible ink, suggesting the security features of the document, but also highlighting the role of the passport, freedom of movement and area of movement.
The closing speech was given to Minister Lucian – Nicolae Bode, who wished many years to the Romanian passport, which contains highly complex security features, effective in countering attempts at counterfeiting and forgery.
Thus, we can say that like the postage stamp, which takes you out into the world and brings the world into your home, the passport accompanies us on our journeys to our loved ones or brings home our loved ones!
Congratulations to the whole team of specialists of the General Directorate of Passports for their efforts to make this travel document always in line with the needs of society!
Romfilatelia wishes all travel enthusiasts a safe journey!
