Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday discussed with his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic energy and transport interconnection projects between the two countries, according to Agerpres.

According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), Aurescu had a bilateral meeting with Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Lodz, Poland.

„This first contact of the heads of the two diplomacies takes place after the inauguration of the new government of the Republic of Serbia, on October 26, 2022, as well as after the meeting of the prime ministers of Romania and Serbia on November 28, 2022 in Bucharest, on the sidelines of a round table conference on the Western Balkans within the Munich Security Conference Leaders’ Meeting, an event that preceded a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Bucharest, November 29-30, 2022.”

In their conversation, the two ministers also addressed continuing the talks started on a visit to Romania on June 27 of then Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic.

„The two dignitaries reconfirmed their interest in boosting bilateral sectoral collaboration, with emphasis on promoting interconnection projects in the fields of energy, especially the Arad-Mokrin gas interconnector and the Resita-Pancevo high-voltage line, as well as transport, and the developments in the implementation of the Timisoara-Moravita-Vatin-Belgrade motorway. Both sides welcomed the very good level of bilateral co-operation in home affairs.”

Aurescu also welcomed an increase in bilateral trade by 37% in the first three quarters of 2022, to nearly 2 billion euros, despite a difficult global economic context, and encouraged the intensification of mutual investment.

In order to further boost commercial exchanges, he proposed the organisation of a bilateral business forum.

Aurescu and his Serbian counterpart mentioned the progress made recently with the completion of the effective handover of the Luceafarul facility in Vrsec, Serbia, whose ownership right was won by Romania following the signing by Aurescu and his then Serbian counterpart in June of an intergovernmental agreement on this topic, a relevant diplomatic success of MAE.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy voiced hope that the new Serbian government will nominate, in the shortest possible time, a new co-president of the Romania-Serbia Intergovernmental Joint Commission on National Minorities, which will allow the resumption of its activity by organising a new working session.

The two dignitaries agreed stay in touch for the advancement of the bilateral agenda and projects of shared interest, including by organising official visits to Bucharest or Belgrade.

Agerpres