The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had a telephone conversation on Friday with his counterpart from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, a context in which they discussed the security situation in the Black Sea and the Middle East, the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) informs.
The two officials were supposed to meet on Friday in Bucharest, but the Saudi side postponed the event "for unforeseeable and objective reasons", and the visit will be rescheduled "in the near future".
The conversation occasioned an exchange of views on the latest security developments in the Black Sea region and the wider Middle East. Minister Aurescu presented Romania's security assessments regarding the war in Ukraine and its complex effects at the regional and global level. He also gave a brief presentation of Romania's multidimensional efforts in support of Ukraine, including with regard to refugees. He welcomed the decision of Saudi Arabia to invite the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the Summit of the League of Arab States held in Jeddah on May 19, the MAE informs.
The head of Romanian diplomacy emphasized "the importance of combating disinformation and false narratives propagated by Russia and reiterated the importance of defending the international order based on the UN Charter and its principles, seriously violated by Russia through the illegal and unjustified war launched against Ukraine". Aurescu emphasized that, starting from the obvious premise that Ukraine is the victim of Russian aggression, it is up to Kiev to decide on the moment and parameters of starting peace talks, at the same time being obvious that at this moment Russia's behavior does not indicate the desire to end the war.
Also, Bogdan Aurescu spoke about the prospect of signing bilateral agreements "to support the achievement of the common objectives of economic and sectoral cooperation".
The Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia thanked Romania for the "exceptional efforts" to support Ukrainian refugees, but also for hosting in Romania the Embassy of Saudi Arabia from Kiev, relocated from Ukraine after the start of the aggression.
At the same time, the Saudi minister presented his evaluations regarding the developments of the crisis in Sudan, as well as Saudi Arabia's efforts to maintain the truce and identify long-term solutions, with the aim of maintaining regional stability, the MAE informs. AGERPRES