In a surprise move, during a Tuesday press conference PM Dacian Ciolos announced he was replacing four ministers in his government, approximately six months before the end of his term in office.
The four ministers are Adrian Curaj, Minister of Education, Marius Bostan, Minister of Communications and for Information Society, Minister of Transport Dan Costescu, and Minister – Delegate for Relations with Romanians Abroad Dan Stoenescu. They will be replaced by University of Bucharest rector Mircea Dumitru at the Ministry of Education, Romanian Ambassador to Canada Maria Ligor as the Minister-Delegate for Relations with Romanians Abroad and Head of Prime Minister’s Chancellery Dragos Tudorache as the interim Minister of Communications.
The proposed Minister of Transports, Petru Sorin Buse (b. 1960), has a background in the auto sector and has held several executive positions in Romania and abroad. In 1990, after emigrating to Canada, for five years Buse worked as a project director and technical director with dealers of car makers General Motors, Honda, Chrysler, Suzuki and Mercedes.
Between 1995 and 2008, Buse held several positions with Toyota Canada Inc., the most important of them being that of General Director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. During this time he was tasked with kick starting industrial operations at the company’s Greenfield factory in Woodstock, Ontario.
Buse started working for the Renault Group in 2008 and was involved in operations with the Russian Federation. In July 2009 he was appointed Deputy Executive Director of Renault Technologie Roumanie, the only complete automotive engineering centre in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region and the largest engineering centre outside France, employing approximately 2300 engineers. In this position he oversaw the creation of Renault’s R&D facilities in Romania.
According to PM Dacian Ciolos, in the upcoming period, the Ministry of Transport should focus on the execution of the highway projects and reforming the National Company of Motorways and National Roads.
Georgeta Gheorghe