For the first time, the Republic of Moldova is participating in a meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and this represents „a welcome first”, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu emphasized on Wednesday, according to Agerpres.

The clarifications were made ahead of the second day of the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of NATO member countries, held at the Palace of the Parliament. On Wednesday morning, the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministers session, with Finland and Sweden is taking place.

„Today we will have two sessions. One dedicated to China and the strengthening of resilience within the Alliance, as well as the fight against terrorism, the Western Balkans and the fight against hybrid threats. These are on the agenda of the first session. The second session is very important for Romania, because we have our partners by our side. The partners from the Western Balkans, the partners from the Black Sea region, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Moldova. It is the first time that Moldova participates in a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from NATO member countries. It is a welcome first,” said Aurescu.

According to him, the importance of the Black Sea region for the security of the Alliance will be highlighted during the discussions on Wednesday. Minister Aurescu further emphasized the support for Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, noting that Romania has similar goals to this country.

„We maintain our support for the declaration of the 2008 Bucharest Summit, which showed that Georgia and Ukraine will become members of the Alliance when the conditions are met. We strongly support this objective. For this reason, we have recently increased the level of relations between Georgia and Romania at the level of strategic partnership, during the visit of the President of Georgia to Bucharest,” declared Aurescu.

He mentioned that among the topics discussed on Tuesday were ways to help Ukraine, but also Romania’s larger contribution within the assistance package.

„We had in-depth discussions about how we could best help Ukraine meet the challenges of fighting the aggressor. I was pleased to see that virtually all Allies expressed their full support for Ukraine’s efforts. A number of concrete commitments were expressed during the meeting. We had two meetings dedicated to Ukraine – an important support for the NATO assistance package regarding non-lethal aid intended for Ukraine. Romania, in turn, expressed its support and we will increase the contribution to this comprehensive assistance package. I also presented the aid provided by Romania on a bilateral level, a multidimensional aid, for Ukraine,” the Romanian minister stated.

The head of Romanian diplomacy added that the Black Sea was a topic present on the discussion agenda.

„I emphasized the importance of the Black Sea for the security of the Alliance. I also emphasized the importance of the timely and full implementation of the decisions from the Madrid Summit, especially those related to strengthening the position on the Eastern Flank and in the south of the Eastern Flank, at the Black Sea, where Romania is also located. (…) At the same time, I welcome the ministerial statement adopted yesterday. Not all ministerial meetings have a dedicated statement, to highlight the most important aspects of the meeting,” said the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Agerpres