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Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos will be briefing President Klaus Iohannis today on his recent Asian tour to Vietnam and Mongolia, according to official sources.
The sources say Ciolos's tour to Vietnam and Mongolia has been very substantive and the conclusions thereof will be introduced to President Iohannis today as part of the two officials' weekly meeting to start in the afternoon.
The Asian tour started with an official visit to Vietnam, 11-14 July; on 15-16 July Ciolos attended the 11th ASEM Summit (Europe-Asia Meeting) in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
The Government says in a press statement that the visit to Vietnam was designed to resume the traditional friendship relations between Romania and Vietnam, with emphasis on boosting the dynamics in their economic corporation and commercial exchanges. Besides holding bilateral talks with Vietnam's prime minister, president and other state officials, Ciolos attended a Romania-Vietnam Economic Forum meeting in Hanoi, alongside a retinue of over 20 Romanian business leaders to identify new business opportunities with Vietnamese partners and to capitalise on the future free trade agreement between the European Union and Vietnam.
As far as the ASEM Summit is concerned, talks focused on 20 years of the ASEM as a partnership for the future through connectivity, with the attendees assessing the progress since the previous summit and adopting cooperation guideline for the next decade.
In his speech to the ASEM Summit, Ciolos discussed the promotion of a partnership within ASEM for greeter connectivity, offering argues in favour of Romania becoming a hub for interconnection projects between Europe and Asia, including freight carriage infrastructure, energy transmission, communications as well as interpersonal and cultural ties. Ciolos also highlighted the advantages of Romania's geographical location and connection through the Danube River.
At a meeting of the heads of attending delegations that discussed main current world affairs, principally measures against terrorism, Ciolos promoted Romania's initiative for the establishment of an international tribunal to condemn terror crimes, according to the Government.
Early last Saturday, Ciolos attended an informal coordination meeting of the European heads of state or government that took part in a summit on the situation in Turkey. The meeting ended with the approval of a joint declaration of President of the European Council Donald Tusk, president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
On the sidelines of the summit, Ciolos had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Poland, as well as the president of Switzerland and the president of the European Commission. Additionally, Ciolos had informal talks with the president of the European Council and the prime ministers of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Malta and Russia, the vice president of India and the secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
