Foreign policy priorities

In 2023, "Romania's foreign ministry will continue to give special attention to the country's Schengen accession and to joining the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development". The announcement was made by the foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu in a Report on Romania's diplomatic activity released on Thursday.

The document also mentions "carrying on active efforts to support the Republic of Moldova at a political and diplomatic level, in terms of the reforms needed for its European accession goals, in the economic sector, in the energy security field and in other relevant areas, and an enhanced involvement with the Moldova Support Platform, initiated by Romania jointly with Germany and France."

The Romanian foreign ministry also lists, among its priorities, capitalising on the country's relations with its neighbours, Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia, and its future contribution to preparations for the Summit of the Three Seas Initiative scheduled to be hosted by the president of Romania in Bucharest next year.

"The role of diplomacy remains vital, both in crises and in periods of peace, but particularly during crises. Romania's foreign policy will continue to be dynamic, pro-active and alert, and our most important task is to act firmly and never make compromises when working for our fundamental goals," Bogdan Aurescu also says in the document.

As far as 2022 is concerned, the foreign minister says the year was marked at both a regional and a global level by the war of aggression launched by the Russian Federation against neighbouring Ukraine. "Peace on the European continent, where people had not been faced with such situations since World War II, was shattered, and our approach to the end and means of diplomatic action has changed radically," Bogdan Aurescu adds.

The document mentions Romania's support to Ukraine, its contribution to preventing a global food crisis and the assistance provided to the Republic of Moldova, and insists on two initiatives of the Romanian foreign ministry this past year: the Moldova Support Platform, through which 3 ministerial meetings have already been held, in Berlin, Bucharest and Paris, and the Romania - Moldova - Ukraine Trilateral, whose first meeting was held in September in Odessa.

In terms of Romania's diplomatic activity in the field of security policy, the report covers the outcomes of the NATO Summit in Madrid in June 2022, the international acknowledgement of the strategic importance of the Black Sea, and Bucharest's successful hosting of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers and of the Munich Leaders Meeting in November 2022. (AMP)