Premium
Romania is supporting the efforts of the European Commission (EC) in the negotiation over the reformation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Stefan-Radu Oprea, Romania's minister for the business environment, trade and entrepreneurship, told a formal meeting of the EU's Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) in Brussels.
According to a press statement released by the ministry, the meeting in Brussels aimed at exploring the latest developments in and future prospects of the multilateral or plurilateral trade negotiations conducted under the auspices of the WTO in the current difficult context marked by the crises facing the organisation and the trade tensions between certain WTO members.
"Romania is supporting the European Commission's efforts in the process of negotiating the reform of the WTO as an essential tool for free trade that generates development, sustainability and trust in international relations," said Oprea.
On the side-lines of the FAC-Trade meeting, Oprea had a series of meetings with counterparts from other member states to discuss topics of common interest from the perspective of the future Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019.
"In the same context of promoting multilateralism and strengthening trade relations globally, the trade ministers of the EU member states looked into the state of play in current trade negotiations between the EU and third countries and the implementation of already agreed agreements, based on the presentation of the European Commission's annual report on the implementation of the free trade agreements for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2017 by Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom."
The meeting in Brussels also tackled EU-US trade relations, with emphasis on the implementation of the EU-US Joint Declaration adopted on July 25, 2018 by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and US President Donald Trump.
AGERPRES .
