Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier, Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee, is the “designer” of the European Retail Academy (Romanian Distribution Committee has awarded Professor Bernd Hallier in 2006 the title of “Designer of the Year”), a virtual platform that brings more transparency about retail research and retail-education and promotes the international transfer of know-how between business and universities. Dr. Hallier was for the first time in Romania, in Bucharest, in May 1998 on the occasion of the 24th International Congress of AIDA Brussels organized by the Romanian Distribution Committee. Launching the so-called „Evolution Tornado Retail”, Professor Hallier argued (inter alia) that: less seen by the consumers but more by the experts and some dedicated academics is the change of the backstage in retail; no attention at all was paid to the evaluation of philosophies offered by the steady upgrade of retail-technologies; consumers can gain much more impact onto the listing of products, onto services within a store (it might be the time when the outlets become a “point of consumers”- POC – again). The underlined real passion proved by Professor Bernd Hallier is confirming the link between the significance of three German quotes: “What is my life if I am not longer useful to others” (Goethe); “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion” (Hebel); “What is not started today is never finished tomorrow” (Goethe).

The European Retail Academy (ERA) was founded in February 2005 at the exhibition EuroShop by Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier and some of his academic friends to support the Bologna-process and the interaction between theory and application in the field. Today www.european-retail-academy.org has links to more than 225 research-institutes for trade/marketing/ tourism all over the world. The ERA Hall of Fame selects each year one professor who stands for outstanding contributions within the international interaction of research and applied sciences. Continuously SubSites have been launched to target special interest groups via AgriBusinessForum, Environmental Retail Management, Competence for Vocational Training, Forum Art Business, Global Green University, Art/Therapy/Geomancy (KTG) and Urban Revitalization. According to Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier: “Those information platforms are partly Number 1 at Google in their segments; but even more important are our student-activities: they are our investment into Future and Peace”.

Romanian Distribution Committee awarded the Diploma of Honorary Member to venerable Professor Vasile Stănescu, Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, for his tireless work to constantly promote a platform for an academic and civic dialog structured for a common understanding walking on the path towards freedom, reconfirming his indubitable conviction that the therapist is within us, in our world’s capacity to find again its sense, capacity to create and build, to love and dream.

The venerable Professor Vasile Stănescu was born on February 4, 1925, in Bucharest.

Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy,

Honored Personality 2015:

Professor Léon F. Wegnez

It is well-known that the European Retail Academy (ERA: http://www.european-retail-academy.org/ ) is appointing each year one outstanding Professor for the Hall of Fame of ERA. According to the recent announcement made by ERA, the distinguished Léon F. Wegnez is the 2015 “Man of the Year”.

Allow us to remember the distinguished personalities who have been honored by ERA in the last three years: Romano Prodi, Klaus Toepfer, Robert Aumann.

The venerable Professor Beniamin Cotigaru passed away on October 2, 2014. It is a tremendous loss for all those who knew him, but also for the academic world. His funeral will take place in Bucharest on Sunday, October 5, 2014.

Professor Beniamin Cotigaru is an Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee (CRD). It is well known that as Romanian Distribution Committee’s status clearly points out the importance of seeking to promote sustainable development (http://www.distribution-magazine.eu/about/), in 2000, CRD organized, together with the “International Foundation Health – Environment – Sustainable development ” and in partnership with “ION RATIU” Romanian Parliamentarians Club, the Symposium “The Economy of Ideas and Sustainable development”, first reported by the well-known Magazine “Tribuna Economica”, no. 18/3 May 2000. The discussions that took place at the Parliament House, on the occasion of the works of the Symposium on May 16, 2000, were based on a study (“Sustainable development : principles and action”, Beniamin Cotigaru, Theodor Purcarea, coordinators, Millenium Publishing House, May 2000), interdisciplinary research representing a turning point in developing a national strategy for sustainable development.

On April 3, 2013, on the special occasion of the celebration of the centennial of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE Bucharest), the Romanian Ministry of National Education awarded the Diploma of Honor to venerable Professor Beniamin Cotigaru for his significant contribution to the development of education and scientific research in the field of Commodity Science, in honor of his outstanding performance.

It is also worth mentioning that on May 24, 2006, Professor Beniamin Cotigaru, received the “RESPAD Trophy” Diploma awarded by CRD on the occasion of the Symposium “Institutional-spiritual reconstruction of enterprises, requirement for sustainable development in the knowledge society”, organized by the Romanian Distribution Committee in collaboration with the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE Bucharest) and UGIR 1903 (on the basis of the volume which appeared in April 2006 at ASE Publishing House and in which, at page 488, reference is made to „RESPAD Trophy” offered by CRD, among other things emphasizing the correlation between real success and the vision of the training team.

Two years later, Professor Beniamin Cotigaru was the special guest of the Romanian-American University, the School of Management-Marketing, on the occasion of the International Conference “Business innovation, Competitiveness and Ethics”, 10-11 October, 2008.

May his memory be for a blessing.

C’est un moment privilégié d’avoir l’occasion de faire connaître le “glissement” de la nouvelle revue “La Vie Diplomatique”, le nouvel organ officiel du Club Diplomatique de Belgique, dans le sillage du monde diplomatique, en incitant à la réflexion et à l’action qui enrichissent la Vie Diplomatique à Bruxelles, capitale de Belgique et “capitale politique” de l’Union Européenne.

Le Club Diplomatique de Belgique (Siège social: Château Sainte-Anne, 103 rue du Vieux Moulin, B1160 Bruxelles) est un lieu de rencontre privilégié pour les membres des Corps Diplomatique et Consulaire, pour les fonctionnaires internationaux (Union Européenne, OTAN, organisations internationales) qui sont ou ont été en poste à Bruxelles, ainsi que pour les cadres d’entreprises multinationales, le Club Diplomatique favorise une meilleure connaissance du Royaume de Belgique, le pays hôte, dans le cadre d’une longue tradition d’accueil et d’ouverture sur le monde (http://www.club-diplomatique.be/index.html).

“La Vie Diplomatique” est dirigée et rédigée par l’équipe qui a assuré durant de nombreuses années la direction et la rédaction de La Gazette Diplomatique. Françoise Bouzin est la Directrice de la revue, Léon F. Wegnez est titulaire des rubriques économiques et diplomatiques, Isabelle Wegnez assure la rédaction des rubriques culturelles, et de nouveaux rédacteurs spécialisés sont en charge des rubriques : finance, enseignement, voyages et restauration (http://www.club-diplomatique.be/vie_diplomatique.html).