Photo Exhibition-Radio Romania Press Correspondents in Iraq and Afghanistan

Zodiac Terrace in Lugoj, Timis County, hosts a unique Photo exhibition of Radio Romania News (RRA) Military Correspondent Mario Balint, displaying pictures of Radio Romania Press Correspondents in Iraq and Afghanistan, alongside Romanian and foreign militaries on the field. Exhibition marks 16 years of active participation of Radio Romania News (Radio Romania Actualităţi/RRA) correspondents at the Romanian Army missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

(Radio România News Journalist Mario Balint. Photo: Petre Dalea, UAFR)

Mario Balint: "It was my desire to create a memory of the Romanian Armed Forces missions over the 16 years of participation in theaters of operations, starting with 2002 in Afghanistan, and then continuing with Iraq (…) we hope these missions will not end because this year at the Centenary we still have many stories to tell about the theater of operations in Afghanistan, about the Romanian Army (…) Romanian militaries bring hope wherever they go There is a monument dedicated to the 28 Romanian soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan (…) message goes beyond the military uniform, beyond the frequencies of our radio station, beyond the information that is being transmitted both on the radio and in other media, and the audience manages to see with their own eyes some fragments of the life that the Romanian soldiers and civilians have lived over the years in these theaters of operations".

Mario Balint spent a total of 52 months in various missions of Romanian troops. His photo exhibition is titled 48/30/16. 30 stands for the author’s 30 years of journalistic activity and 16 stands for the number of years Mario Balint participates in the Romanian Army missions to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Contribution of Radio Romania Press Correspondents in theaters of operations abroad has been praised at the exhibition opening on July 26 by Ms.Henrietta Szabo, Director of the Lugoj Municipal Library, and by Photographer Petre Dalea, member of the Romanian Association of Photographer Artists.

Speakers at the opening also mentioned Radio Romania News Correspondents Radu Dobriţoiu, late Roman Septimiu, Cătălin Gomboş, Ilie Pintea - his photo exhibition from December 1, 2017, in Kandahar! - and Cristina Dumitrescu. "Radio Romania Actualităţi performs a demonstration of force in the Romanian media, following with consistency and professionalism the missions of the Romanian Armed Forces beyond the borders of the country, in line with their commitments towards NATO and the foreign partners".

Photographer Petre Dalea considers that missions of Radio Romania correspondents in Afghanistan must continue "because Romanian Public Radio has been there since the beginning of the conflict in 2002”.

Romania will continue its mission in Afghanistan, as part of NATO, until 2024. Next year, Romania’s participation will increase numerically from 770 troops to 950, including gendarmes and civilian personnel.

In 2022 there will be 20 years of Romanian participation in the Afghan War.

Courtesy of businessman Adi Stanca, owner of Zodiac Terrace in the City of Lugoj (Timis) and of Henrietta Szabo, Photo exhibition of Radio Romania War Correspondent Mario Balint will remain open for the public for the next three weeks. An auction is to be organized at the end, and the money that will be raised will be offered for charity, according to Journalist Mario Balint.

Photo: Petre DALEA (UAFR).

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei