Varujan Vosganian

Vosganian worked across economist, poet, politician, essayist and writer and 1 further recorded occupations. This article rests on 17 published texts and 8 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Varujan Vosganian studied at Alexandru Ioan Cuza National College in Focșani, Bucharest University of Economic Studies and University of Bucharest. The recorded working language is Armenian, English and French. Positions recorded include member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania and member of the Senate of Romania. Distinctions recorded are Presidential Medal of Gratitude, Angelus Award, Gold medal from the Ministry of Culture of Armenia and Khorenatsi medal.

• Name — Varujan Vosganian • Office — Minister of Economy and Finance • Prime Minister — Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu • Term Start — 4 April 2007 • Term End — 22 December 2008 • Predecessor — Himself (Economy and Finance) • Successor — Adriean Videanu (Economy) Gheorghe Pogea (Finance) • Office1 — Minister of Economy and Commerce • Prime Minister1 — Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu • Term Start1 — December 2006 • Term End1 — 4 April 2007 • Predecessor1 — Codruţ Şereş • Successor1 — Himself (Economy and Finance) • Born — 25 July 1958 • Birthplace — Craiova, Romania • Party — The Union of Armenians in Romania (Deputy during 1990–1996) Union of Right Forces (1996–2003, Senator during 1996–2000)

Varujan Vosganian was born in Craiova to a family of Armenian ethnicity. His grandparents were survivors of the genocide against Armenian people which took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Vosganian studied at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza High School in Focșani. He then studied Commerce at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (graduated 1982) and Mathematics at the University of Bucharest (graduated 1991), gaining a Ph.D. in economics in 1998. After participating in the Romanian Revolution in 1989, he has been a member of the Romanian Parliament since the first free elections in 1990. In 1990, he became president of The Union of Armenians in Romania and he was twice (1990–1992 and 1992–1996) elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and a Senator (1996–2000, on the lists of the Union of Right Forces, and 2004–2016, on the lists of the National Liberal Party). Between 1996 and 2003, he was the leader of the Union of Right Forces (Uniunea Forţelor de Dreapta), a right wing liberal party, which eventually merged into the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2003. Having served as minister for Economy and Finance between 2006 and 2008, Vosganian was minister of commerce from 2012 to 2013. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies on the lists of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Along with non-fiction works on economics, Vosganian has also published many essays and literary texts, such as a volume of poems, short stories and novels. The international recognition came with The Book of Whispers (2009), translated in more than twenty languages. Presented in different events (public lectures, essays, workshops, screenings and dramatisations) in more than forty countries from all the continents, The Book of Whispers became the book-symbol against the crime of genocide. Vosganian speaks Armenian, Romanian, English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

• Jurnalul de front: articole economice, Bucharest, Staff, 1994; • Contradicțiile tranziției la o economie de piață, Bucharest, Expert, 1994; • Reforma piețelor financiare din România, Iași, Polirom, 1999.

• Founding member of the Romanian Society of Economy (SOREC) • Member of the Board of International Experts of the Centre for European Policy Studies based in Brussels (1992–1995) • Honorary member of the Scientific Council of the National Institute of Economic Foresight • Senior Researcher of the National Institute of Economics in Romania • Honorary Member of The Romanian Chamber of Commerce

Varujan Vosganian was born on 25 July 1958 in Craiova. Vosganian held the nationality of Romania. Vosganian was educated at Alexandru Ioan Cuza National College in Focșani, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, which Vosganian left in 1982 and University of Bucharest, which Vosganian left in 1991. Recorded father: Bergi Vosganian.

Vosganian worked as economist, poet, politician and essayist, and the authority record catalogues a further 2 occupations under the same name, among them writer and mathematician.

Literary prizes and awards • Prize of the Association of Writers in Bucharest for the best prose of the year – 1994 • Great Prize for Poetry Nichita Stănescu (Chișinău, Republic of Moldavia) – 2006 • Prize for the best book of the year, awarded by the Romania Literară literary magazine (2009) • Prize for the best prose of the year, awarded by Convorbiri Literare literary magazine (2009) • Prize for the best prose of the year, awarded by the Romanian Academy, 2009 • Prize for the best prose of the year and the Prize of readers, awarded by Observatorul Cultural Magazine (2010) • Prize for the best prose of the year, awarded by Viața Românească Literary Magazine – 2010 • Prize for the best prose of the year awarded by Argeș literary magazine (2010) • Nomination for the best prose of the year – Union of Writers in Romania (2009,2013) • Niram Art Prize for poetry Tristan Tzara and for prose Mihail Sebastian, awarded by Niram Art Foundation, Madrid, 2010 • Nomination for the best translation of the year, Leipzig Bookfair, 2014 • The Angelus Award, The Prize of the Readers Natalia Gorbanevskaia and The Prize for the best translation of the year, Wrocław, 2016 Other Awards: • Doctor Honoris Causa, awarded by Vasile Goldis University of Arad, 2006 • Romanian Academy Award for the contribution to the development of Romanian science and culture, 2006 • Gold Medal for Culture, awarded by the Government of Armenia, 2006, 2013 • Order "Nerses Shnorhali" awarded by the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, 2006 • "Ordine della Solidarieta Italiana" awarded by President Giorgio Napolitano of Republic of Italy, 2008 • Order "Cilician Knight" awarded by the Great House of Cilicia Catholicosate, 2008 • "St. Andrew's Cross", awarded by the Romanian Patriarchate, 2008 • Medal "Movses Khorenatzi" awarded by President Serge Sarksian of Republic of Armenia, 2011 • Medal "William Saroyan" awarded by the Government of Armenia, 2012