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Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu and his counterpart of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud had a bilateral meeting on Wednesday, on the sidelines of Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS, organized in Marrakech, in the Kingdom of Morocco.
According to a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), Minister Aurescu expressed the desire of the Romanian side, shared fully by his Saudi counterpart, to give even more consistency and dynamism to the "very good" bilateral relations and highlighted the interest in intensifying political and sectoral contacts. The Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, in context, extended an invitation to Bogdan Aurescu to pay an official visit to Riyadh this year, which was accepted.
"Minister Bogdan Aurescu showed that the organization of a business forum, on the sidelines of his future visit to Riyadh, will have the potential of facilitating contacts between Romanian companies and Saudi authorities and companies, as well as presenting investment opportunities in Romania, in various areas of interest for both parties," MAE said.
The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs presented the areas where economic and bilateral investment projects could be developed, namely other bilateral cooperation projects, such as agriculture, energy, even renewable energy, tourism, IT, energy security. He also mentioned the potential of intensifying bilateral cooperation in the area of countering drug trafficking and terrorism, the Saudi minister expressing his country's interest in implementing these proposals.
The two ministers agreed that establishing a direct air link between the two capitals would be beneficial for stimulating business relations and inter-human contacts, MAE informs.
The dialogue also allowed for an exchange of views on security developments in Ukraine and the Middle East. In this context, Minister Aurescu reiterated the condemnation of the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and presented the assessment of the Romanian side on the situation in Ukraine and Romania's multi-dimensional support in assisting Ukrainian refugees that entered our country, almost 940,000 until now, as well as the backing of this country's economy including through the export of Ukrainian cereal, necessary to avoid a food crisis in various parts of the world. In this context, the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs appreciated Romania's effort and thanked for the help granted by our country for the activity of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Kyiv, which was relocated to Bucharest after the war began.
Minister Aurescu congratulated the position adopted by Saudi Arabia within the UN General Assembly in favor of recent resolutions condemning the war in Ukraine. The Romanian official highlighted that the impact of the Russian military aggression is being felt worldwide, with effects that are already visible in terms of food security and energy security. The Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs presented in this context his country's evaluation on the impact of the armed conflict launched by Russia on the supply of alternative petrol resources.
The two ministers also discussed about the perspectives of solving the conflict in Yemen, both dignitaries expressing their hope that the new Presidential Leadership Council in Sana'a will initiate and successfully lead negotiations with the Houthi rebels, in order to identify and advance a comprehensive and adequate political solution that will put an end to the Yemeni conflict. In context, the head of the Romanian diplomacy reiterated the condemnation of all attacks carried out by the Houthi rebels on the Saudi territory, position which was appreciated by his counterpart.
Furthermore, the Saudi and Romanian Ministers discussed about the perspectives of relations with Iran, in the context of the most recent rounds of Saudi-Iranian consultations and of the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding the Iranian nuclear file.
The two speakers also congratulated the boosting of the dialogue between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council, where Romania plays an active role.
The two Ministers briefly discussed about reference projects initiated by Saudi Arabia such as the 2030 Strategic Vision, launched in 2016, meant to facilitate the reduction of oil dependency and diversifying the economy, as well as the Green Middle East Initiative, which, through its regional dimension and cooperative approach, has the potential of offering a new milestone on the road to durable peace in the Middle East. In context, there were also talks about the significant potential of increasing bilateral cooperation, by involving the Romanian side in projects related to implementing the Green Middle East Initiative.
The Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs also presented the Kingdom's candidacy for hosting World Expo 2030.AGERPRES
