Chief Minister Tony Brown is today becoming an honorary Romanian citizen.

He is in the forner Eastern Bloc country to visit a centre for MS sufferers and new emergency services which have been supported by the Manx government's Overseas Aid Committee.

John Moss has more (text, below, from attached audio file):

He doesn't know about this yet, but just about now (8am), in Romania, Mr Brown will be awarded the status of Citizen of Honour of Giris de Cris, a small village near the northern border with Hungary, where two Manx fire engines are now stationed.

That will make him an honorary Romanian citizen, the first Manx minister to claim that honour.

Mr Brown's itinerary between now and the weekend includes inspecting work at an MS centre in the nearby city of Oradea, and a fire station built in Giris de Cris to house the two Manx fire engines.

If he glances up at the Mayor's, or Pirmara's, office when he arrives today, he will see three flags and three legs - the Romanian, EU and Manx flags flying side by side.

The Romanians have taken the Manx to their hearts, in graitude for the help given to them by a small jurisdiction on the other side of Europe.