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The State Secretary for European Affairs, Daniela Gitman, participated, on Monday, in Sofia, in the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from the member states of the Central European Initiative (CEI), organized by the annual Presidency exercised by Bulgaria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs in a release for AGERPRES.
State Secretary Daniela Gitman reiterated Romania's firm position regarding the continuation of support for Ukraine, both from the perspective of covering the urgent needs of the population to face the winter season, given that, just in the last week, a third of the critical infrastructure energy of Ukraine was partially destroyed or damaged by the military attacks of the Russian Federation, as well as regarding the reconstruction process, when developments on the ground permit. The Romanian official presented the multidimensional and comprehensive nature of the assistance provided by Romania to the neighboring state, including the humanitarian assistance offered to refugees and the essential role that Romania plays in facilitating the transport of grain from Ukraine to third destinations, through the infrastructure on its territory.
In terms of regional sectoral cooperation, State Secretary Daniela Gitman emphasized the importance of completing the integrated transport and energy networks, a priority that Romania consistently promotes, for the direct contribution to combating the negative effects of the energy crisis, which currently affects the entire continent, but especially the CEI affiliated states from the South-Eastern European region. In this sense, she proposed the more ambitious development of cooperation at the CEI level, by updating the 2020-2023 Action Plan, in correlation with the European financial instruments intended for the region, including those aimed at the extended Black Sea and Danube regions.
The Romanian official reaffirmed Romania's strong support for the European path of the eight non-EU partners in CEI and welcomed the publication by the European Union, on October 12, 2022, of the Enlargement Package, underlining Romania's support for policy advancement in the field, based on the principle of the candidates' own merits. At the same time, she reiterated that our country shares the current findings of the Commission through the Enlargement Package, in line with the conclusions of the European Council of June 2022 regarding the importance of reforms, especially in the field of the rule of law, the independence and functioning of the judicial system and the fight against corruption.
