Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Friday participated in a new meeting of foreign ministers in the G7+ format, which focused on ways to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, a context in which the head of the Romanian diplomacy highlighted Romania’s role in ensuring the transfer of hundreds of generators that make up for the shortage of electricity supply resulting from interruptions in the power grid of Ukraine subjected to Russian bombing, write Agerpres.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Hayashi Yoshimasa, co-chaired the meeting, which took place in a videoconference format.

According to the same source, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmitro Kuleba, also took part in the meeting, informing the states participating in this format about the latest developments in Ukraine in the field of energy infrastructure, as well as about the priorities in terms of necessary assistance from the international community.

In his intervention, the head of the Romanian diplomacy emphasized how severe the Russian attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine are, in general, and also how irresponsible, considering the possibility that the operation of nuclear power plants is affected – as was the very recent case of the Russian bombings that affected the supply of electricity necessary for cooling the systems essentials of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Referring to Romania’s efforts in support of Ukraine’s energy needs, Bogdan Aurescu highlighted the role played by our country in ensuring the transfer of hundreds of generators that make up for the shortage of electricity supply resulting from interruptions in Ukraine’s electrical network subjected to Russian bombing.

He also underscored the high degree of mobilization of local authorities, including those of Iasi, Constanta, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Bucharest, of civil society and the business environment, in order to make generator donations to local communities in Ukraine affected by the attacks of the Russian armed forces on the energy infrastructure, the release also states.

The Romanian Foreign Minister also pointed out the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Republic of Moldova and Romania’s efforts in support of the energy security of this state.

The meeting was also attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs or other high representatives from the G7 states (in addition to the USA and Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom), from Ukraine, as well as from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Sweden and Norway, together with representatives of the European Union, the European Energy Community, EBRD, UNDP and the World Bank.

The G7+ meeting of March 10, 2023, was the third held in this format, after the first one was organized in Romania, on November 29, 2022, on the sidelines of the meeting of the foreign ministers from NATO member states, hosted by Minister Bogdan Aurescu.

AGERPRES