The countries on the Eastern Flank, on the border of the war in Ukraine, want peace and aim to strengthen their defense and as a "deterrence mechanism", so that the recent provocations are met with a firm response, declared on Thursday, for AGERPRES, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Toiu, who is in the US, where she leads the Romanian delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York.
"Our common stake remains very clearly peace. These days it is quite clear that several countries have understood that this means that it is necessary to increase the pressure on Russia, that Ukraine is a country that wants peace and that we, the countries of the European Union, but especially the countries on the border of the war, want to do everything in our power to reach this peace, to strengthen our own defense and as a deterrent mechanism, so that the recent provocations are met with a firm diplomatic response and with the necessary decisions regarding the strengthening of defense capabilities on the Eastern Flank", stated the head of Romanian diplomacy.
She voiced Romania's position in the UN Security Council regarding the violation of the airspace of several states on the Eastern Flank by Russian aircraft.
"We asked to intervene in the UN Security Council to signal the risks we see. We did this together with Poland and Estonia. The response of the Security Council members was clear, firm. In fact, the vast majority of the Security Council members explicitly mentioned Romania in their interventions, with several elements - the first concerns the strengthening of the Eastern Flank, the increase in pressure on Russia to authentically reach peace negotiations and the continued support of Ukraine", the minister pointed out.
At the same time, Toiu highlighted that the United States of America remains "strongly committed" to NATO and mentioned the perspective of defense investments in Romania.
"Recently, in the working format of the European Union, Romania is the second country in terms of access to the budget specifically allocated to military acquisitions and the necessary infrastructure, through the SAFE (Program), we are the second country after Poland in terms of allocated financial resources and in the working formats of these days in New York we have gone further in discussions with the other foreign ministers, prime ministers, to see how we can join the defensive and deterrent working direction and the one that leads further - the pressure necessary for Russia to truly sit down at the table of dialogue and negotiations, namely economic sanctions and the decoupling of several countries from Russian gas and energy sources", Oana Toiu pointed out.
Regarding the conflict in the Middle East, she reiterated that Romania supports the two-state solution.
"At this moment, we are contributing to resolving the humanitarian situation where we can - for example, Romania supports access for children who are victims of this war to medical treatment where they are safe, especially in European Union countries, but also alongside Turkey in some cases, and the two-state solution has gained much wider support this week than previously. In fact, there have also been discussions between representatives of the United States, Israel, and some Arab states, and there is significant optimism regarding future steps," the foreign minister said.
At the same time, the head of Romanian diplomacy conveyed that Romania supports the UN's role in leading to peace in the various regions.
"At this moment when the United Nations is under unprecedented pressure, we support the necessary reforms, but also the strengthening of its role. We are in a very complicated and dangerous moment, so we also reinforce in our message the need for the United Nations, through each of its working formats, to contribute to peace", explained Toiu.
Oana Toiu will deliver the national intervention in the UN General Assembly plenary sessiona on Monday.
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