Pavlo Klimkin-Bogdan Aurescu encounter.
On Tuesday,President Klaus Iohannis welcomed theUkrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin to the Cotroceni Palace, reaffirming Romania’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s European and democratic path.
According to the Presidential Administration, the discussion particularly focused on the perspective of developing bilateral relations and the evolution of the situation in Ukraine after the signing of the new Minsk Agreement of February 12 regarding a cease-fire in the eastern part of Ukraine.
President Iohannis expressed hope that enforcement of the unconditional and comprehensive truce will be respected by all those involved and will lead to a stabilization of the situation in the region.
A particular importance for the success of this endeavor is that authorities in Kiev should continue and deepen the internal reform process, especially by fighting against corruption and consolidating state institutions.
The discussions were also attended by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Bucharest, Teofil Bauer, and by presidential adviser Lazar Comanescu, newly appointed by President Iohannis last week.
After the meeting with President Iohannis, the Ukrainian FM met his Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu. The two foreign ministers agreed on a joint sitting of the Romanian and Ukrainian governments.
‘I proposed to hold a first joint sitting of the governments of Ukraine and Romania so that we might have the possibility to talk not only at the foreign ministers’ level, not only at the presidents’ level, but also at the level of other ministries and other ministers that have specific tasks. In this manner we will pinpoint the purposes incumbent on us as well as the methods by which we can attain them’, Klimkin said during a joint news conference with Aurescu given at the headquarters of the Romanian Foreign Ministry.
Romanian FM Aurescu said the talks with Klimkin were ‘very open, very constructive’ and reiterated ‘the firm support’ that Romania is currently rendering Ukraine, at the same time welcoming the idea of a joint government sitting which needs to be enforced “no later than this year”.
Later on, in an encounter with the Romanian media, Pavlo Klimkin stated that Russia cannot split the European Union, which hasn’t had a comprehensive policy towards Moscow so far, but which is united now and is fighting for its values.
In another train of thoughts, the Ukrainian FM ruled out the possibility of a frozen conflict in eastern Ukraine, similar to the Transdniester one in Republic of Moldova. Klimkin underlined that the special statute Donetsk and Lugansk regions would get will enable the restart of a normal life there. “Donetsk and Lugansk will be able to elect their own local representatives, will receive a higher percentage of the taxes and will be able to create special economic zones,” he explained. He also added that granting the two regions the special status aims at “counteracting Russia’s arguments that people are neglected out there.”