The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, participated on Wednesday in the annual ministerial meeting of the Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which took place at the headquarters of the Organization in Paris, under the title „Securing A Resilient Future: Shared Values And Global Partnerships”, write Agerpres.

In the session dedicated to Ukraine, held with the participation of the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in virtual format, Minister Bogdan Aurescu reiterated Romania’s commitment to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people, by providing multidimensional support, as well as the decision to continue providing this support as long as necessary.

„Thus, the head of Romanian diplomacy referred to the welcoming, by Romania, of over 4.4 million refugees from Ukraine, to our country’s humanitarian efforts, but also to the support provided by Romania to maintain the viability of Ukraine’s economy under conditions of war, including the facilitation of the transit of over 18.1 million tonnes of grains, and Romania’s efforts to strengthen the interconnection with Ukraine, on all relevant components, including in the fields of transport and energy,” the press release states.

„In his intervention, the head of Romanian diplomacy showed that, against the backdrop of a fragile economic outlook, reducing gender disparities on the labor market by empowering women’s participation represents an important catalytic factor, both for reducing the impact of the consequences of these crises, and for stimulating productivity growth. He showed, in this context the fact that, in the Romanian Foreign Ministry, while almost 50% of the total employees in the Central Department and Foreign Service are women, of the total number of people who hold management positions at the level of the Central Department, women represent 48%. In the Foreign Service, women represent a percentage of almost 35% of the total number of heads of missions. He also highlighted the actions taken by Romania to ensure that economic opportunities bring benefits to all, in an inclusive manner,” the release reads.

On the sidelines of the OECD meeting, Minister Aurescu had a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization, Mathias Cormann, on which occasion he showed that Romania is ready to implement the OECD recommendations and use the accession process as an incentive for continuing reforms and modernization.

The head of Romanian diplomacy had brief bilateral meetings with Damien O’Connor, the minister for trade and export growth from New Zealand, and with the secretary of state for foreign affairs, Commonwealth and development of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, James Cleverly, as well as discussions with his counterparts from Latvia, Croatia and Spain.