Mandela's funeral aids international relations: Romanian PM chats informally with US president, with some help from Tony Blair

The recent funeral of former South – African president Nelson Mandela was a good moment for leaders of the world to meet and chat, and Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta took advantage of that. Ponta, who also went to Johannesburg to commemorate Mandela's death, had a 15-minute informal chat with US president Barrack Obama. The informal meeting seems to have been aided by the presence of former British PM Tony Blair, now an international consultant, whom the Romanian PM has met on several occasions. While Obama was holding his speech in the stadium where the funeral was held, Romania's Ponta approached Blair, and later on the pair together approached the US president. Nothing official was however discussed during the short talk. Ponta also chatted to France's president Hollande, and British PM David Cameron. Earlier in October, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made another visit to Romania, this time meeting Romanian PM Victor Ponta. This was his second such visit this year after one earlier in June. Blair, who is now an international consultant, stopped in Romania on his way to the Middle East, similarly to his visit in June, when he stopped on his way over to Israel. Romanian PM Victor Ponta flew to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the funeral of Nelson Mandela, joining 53 heads of state. Romanian president Traian Basescu chose to stay home, saying his budget was not enough to cover the trip, similarly to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. editor@romania-insider.com