ForMin Aurescu, US Ambassador discuss common priorities on bilaeral agenda in 2020

Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday welcomed US Ambassador in Bucharest Adrian Zuckerman, to concretely discuss the working plan on the common priorities of the Romanian-US bilateral agenda in 2020, including political dialogue, the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) informs.

According to MAE, the two officials reviewed the stage of the preparations for the 2020 session of the Romania-US Strategic Dialogue, which is scheduled to take place in the first half of the year in Washington.

At the same time, Aurescu and Zuckerman had an opinion exchange on the modalities to jointly mark in 2020 the 140th anniversary since establishing bilateral relations.

Furthermore, they explored the opportunity and the concrete possibilities of cooperation aimed at a better information of the public opinion in Romania about the procedures for obtaining entry visas to the US for Romanian citizens, in view to facilitate Romania's access to the Visa Waiver program, MAE adds.

The two officials also discussed aspects regarding the cooperation in the defence and security area, Bogdan Aurescu having reiterated the importance of increasing the US military presence in Romania, as a concrete manner of consolidating the defence and deterrence posture on NATO's eastern flank.

Moreover, "highlight was placed on obtaining some concrete results in the area of cooperation on the energy security and cyber security topic, with a focus on 5G," the MAE release also reads.

The two dignitaries also made a review of the Romania-US collaboration on a regional and European level, pointing out the fact that Romania is a state firmly supporting the transatlantic union and an as close as possible cooperation between the EU and the US. There was also an opinion exchange on the developments in the Republic of Moldova, with Romania's known position having been reiterated and the continuation of the close coordination between Romania and the US on the topic having been agreed on, MAE also points out.