Ilie Văduva

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Ilie Văduva (July 21, 1934 – November 13, 1998) was a Romanian communist politician. He served as Romania's Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 1985 to August 1986, and as Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation from August 1986 to May 1988. In December 1988 he became Presidential Counselor, a position he held until December 1989, after the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu. He was arrested following the regime's collapse.

Văduva was born in Aninoasa, Gorj County. He finished high school in Târgu Jiu in 1954 and graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in 1958. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics in 1971 and served as Rector of the Academy from 1980 to 1985. He joined the Romanian Communist Party in 1961 and became a full member of its Central Committee in 1984.

An advisor on economic matters, Văduva was seen as a protégé of Elena Ceaușescu and was chosen for the Foreign Affairs post to raise her international profile. Many viewed him as inexperienced in foreign policy. He was removed from the Foreign Ministry for ineffectiveness and reassigned to foreign trade, but later dismissed in 1988 over a toxic waste scandal at the Sulina port on the Black Sea. He then briefly returned to power as Presidential Counselor before being arrested after the regime fell. He died in Bucharest in 1998 at age 64.