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Romania and the United States of America must continue to focus on turning the Black Sea from a region of confrontation into a stability pole, "a region where the cooperation and predictability logic is predominant, where the economic outlook is alleviating, and the different peoples and cultures interact and coexist peacefully," on Tuesday said the Foreign Affairs Minister, Teodor Melescanu at the "Security Challenges in the Black Sea Region" debate, organised by the New Strategy Center and Center for American Seapower (Hudson Institute, Washington), a release by the relevant ministry (MAE) informs.
Melescanu stressed that in the last decade this region regained an important spot in the European, US strategic thinking considering the regional evolutions with a negative impact upon the Euro-Atlantic security. It is necessary, he said, the multilateral and bilateral cooperation's enhancement, as well as the concrete measures taken by the allied partners to counteract the negative influences and encourage the positive-impact evolutions.
Moreover, minister Melescanu referred to the changing character of the risks and threats in the Black Sea area in the last years. In the context, he mentioned that besides the direct utilization of the armed force in 2014 by Russia, this region's countries and societies are "a shooting range" for "new manifestations" from hybrid tactics to cyber attacks but also propaganda campaigns and fake news or military activities extended to the NATO territory proximity which contributes to deepening a regional instability's spiral.
Considering these evolutions, Teodor Melescanu emphasised that the strategic relationships' enhancement with the states in the Black Sea area is a must, alongside with the development of their own capacities, investments in the state's and the society's resilience, economic inflows' stimulation and speeding of the projects with positive impact upon the energy diversification and security.
The Romanian chief diplomat also said that "apart from the strong agenda it promotes within the NATO, Romania is pursuing a consistent agenda within the EU, too, in particular in the perspective of the EU Council's Presidency it is due to hold in 2019." The minister stressed that Romania is certain that despite current limitations and hindrances, "the regional cooperation must not be abandoned, but reinvented with an accent on the concrete outcomes." He gave the example of the current potential in the field of maritime cooperation, at the SME's level, the environment protection, the research and innovation, the education.
AGERPRES .
