Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca on Tuesday had a meeting at the Victoria Palace with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, James Cleverly, the two high officials focusing on the strategic partnership between the two countries, according to Agerpres.

„I recently had a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Great Britain. It was a very good opportunity for us to analyze the security situation and the development of the strategic partnership between Romania and Great Britain. Also, a draft is being worked on to modify and complete this strategic partnership. There are a whole series of common lines, through which we bring more consistency to this bilateral relationship. Of course, beyond the components of external relations, security and defence, the cyber component and the economic one and investments, we also discussed other aspects that are very well aligned with the security challenges and the economic challenges that we can solve together,” Ciuca informed, at the beginning of the Government meeting on Tuesday.

According to a press release of the Government, the main topics the two high ranked officials discussed at their meeting were the regional security situation, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, support for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. An important item on the same meeting’s agenda referred to the bilateral relations between Great Britain and Romania, which deserve the special attention of both sides.

Nicolae Ciuca also mentioned the support that Romania gives to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, such as helping with grain exports or providing energy products. In this context, the head of the Executive mentioned that Romania provides the Republic of Moldova with 80-90% of its energy needs.

In terms of bilateral relations, they mentioned the Joint Declaration aimed at strengthening the Strategic Partnership and adjusting it to the realities of the new status of the United Kingdom after exiting the EU, as well as to current international developments. This bilateral document is to be concluded soon and will cover important areas of cooperation such as security and defence, cyber security, energy and new technologies, respectively investment and business relations.

During the meeting, Nicolae Ciuca pointed out the importance of clarifying the status of Romanian citizens who chose to remain in UK as residents, considering their rights as European citizens.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, James Cleverly, appreciated the excellent bilateral cooperation and underscored that joint projects must be continued, regardless of the aspects that characterize the relations between the European Union and UK.

In addition, Minister James Cleverly gave assurances that Romanians are welcome in UK, just like all European citizens, and noted their professionalism and how easy they integrated into British society.

The high British official thanked Romania for the support given to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and showed full openness for bilateral cooperation to continue to support the two states.

Agerpres