Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu met Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres to discuss climate change and its consequences, as well as recent developments in Ukraine, Agerpres informs.

Aurescu was at the UN headquarters in New York to participate as a keynote speaker in the UN Security Council meeting on „Threats to International Peace and Security: Sea-Level Rise – Implications for International Peace and Security.”

According to a press statement released by the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), the two officials addressed climate change and its consequences, including the risks generated by rising sea and ocean levels, which the Romanian dignitary presented to the Security Council during the same day.

Guterres showed that he particularly appreciates the work carried out by the co-chairs of the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law, and he particularly thanked Aurescu for the efforts made in this capacity, including for the solutions put forth within the International Law Commission that were reconfirmed at the event hosted by the UN Security Council.

During the discussions, Aurescu reiterated Romania’s support for effective multilateralism and for the rules-based international order with the United Nations system at its core, as well as for the secretary general’s efforts to make the UN more efficient.

The two senior officials discussed the recent developments in Ukraine almost a year after the beginning of Russia’s illegitimate war of aggression. Aurescu „highlighted the fact that this irresponsible behaviour of Russia, which violates the foundations of the international legal order, must stop, being all the more serious as the war is proliferated by a member state of the UN Security Council.”

At the same time, the Romanian minister highlighted the need for the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council to send a clear message in support of peace in Ukraine and to condemn Russia’s war of aggression one year after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He shared Romania’s perspective on the main current challenges of global interest, with emphasis on managing the impact of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine and the implications of the war, including for the most vulnerable states in the Global South.

The Romanian minister also highlighted Romania’s concrete support efforts for Ukraine in the humanitarian field – including receiving more than 3.5 million refugees from Ukraine who transited through Romania, as well as the provision to asylum seekers of free access to healthcare, schooling and labour. At the same time, he emphasised the active and concrete steps to avoid a global food crisis by facilitating the transit of almost 13 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and agricultural products to world markets.

Aurescu thanked Guterres for his efforts to negotiate the agreement on the Black Sea Grain Initiative and emphasised the fundamental importance of extending the agreement.

Moldova’s current affairs were also discussed, with Guterres recalling his visit to the capital city of Chisinau in 2022. The head of the Romanian diplomacy presented the multidimensional support provided by Romania for strengthening the resilience of Moldova and for combatting the effects of the war against Ukraine.

Aurescu pointed out that the very recent statements by Moldova’s presdient that there are Russian plans to destabilise Moldova should be taken seriously. „He showed that Romania supported, supports and will continue to support stability in Moldova in a concrete and solidary way, on all dimensions, including in the current context, as well as its integration with the European Union,” according to MAE.

Aurescu also reconfirmed Romania’s long-term commitment to promote respect for international law as a fundamental pillar of Romania’s foreign policy demonstrated including by a series of actions initiated by Romania amid the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine for the support of ascertaining responsibilities and combatting the impunity of those officials of the occupying power committing international crimes in the invaded territories.

„The UN Secretary General expressed his special appreciation for Romania’s activity in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees, thanking both the Romanian state officials and the Romanian public for the solidarity and consistency with which they have responded to the war in the neighbouring country. He pointed out that Romania is a reliable actor in the provision of humanitarian support, mentioning to the point the successful project of the Emergency Centre for Refugees in Timisoara, created in 2008 under an agreement concluded between the government of Romania, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration,” the Foreign Ministry mentions.

Agerpres