The presence of 100,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians in Romania is "proof" of the church's contribution to the country, said Ambassador Adrian Cosmin Vierita, Romania's emissary to the United States, during a luncheon at the Adventist world church's headquarters March 12.

Vierita, who has held his post in Washington, D.C. for the past 14 months, met with Jan Paulsen, world church president, and church officials before the luncheon meeting. The Seventh-day Adventist Church's roots in Romania date back to 1868.

Following the 1989 revolution, Adventist outreach gained wider public support in the country, and in welcoming Vierita and his wife, Codrina Eugenia, Pastor Paulsen said, "I want to thank you and your nation for recognizing human rights," particularly in regard to religious freedom.

Paulsen also noted that Adventists operate more than 60 educational institutions in Romania, and that "education has always been a big value [of] the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We want to be more than [just] a community of faith."

Paulsen told Vierita the Adventist church wanted to be "partners in nation and community building." He also offered the nation's people the church's full support.

Dr. John Graz, director of world church's department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, said that Adventism is recognized as an official church in Romania and expressed appreciation for that status. In introducing the Ambassador, Graz noted Mrs. Vierita was also a minister-counsellor at the Romanian Embassy.

Adventists in Romania are known for their contribution to religious liberty in a country which saw severe restrictions of human rights under communism, Graz said.

"I have a great respect and appreciation for the Seventh-day Adventist Church," Vierita said. "[Your] Church is appreciated by the Romanian authorities." Noting that many of the world church leaders at the luncheon had visited the nation, he continued, "What you have probably already felt is that you are most welcome in my country."

Ambassador Adrian Vierita served prior to his current Washington assignment, as State Secretary for European Affairs with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since July 2006. Between 2002 and 2006, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the Federal Republic of Germany.