The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, confirmed that the authorities in his country know about the situation of the Romanians stranded at the International Airport in Cancun and gave assurances that efforts are being made to clarify the situation.

The information comes in the context in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had a conversation over the phone on Wednesday, upon the request of the Romanian side, with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, following the efforts made by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) to resolve the situation of the Romanian citizens facing a refusal from the Mexican authorities to allow them to entry the territory of the United Mexican States.

According to a press release sent by the MAE to AGERPRES, during the telephone conversation, Minister Aurescu reiterated "the concern of the Romanian authorities regarding the arbitrary way in which the Mexican authorities refused the access of the Romanian citizens, who were traveling for tourism, on the territory of the United Mexican States and reiterated his call for a transparent and predictable approach with respect to the regime of foreign tourists in Mexico."

Aurescu pointed out the need for such decisions to be based on individual assessments, on a case-by-case basis, which plea he also included in the letter addressed to his Mexican counterpart. He underscored that Romania respects the sovereign right of Mexico to make decisions not to allow foreign nationals to enter its own territory, but underscored the importance of analyzing them on a case-by-case basis, and not by "the application of a generalized, group decision, which cannot be allowed."

In this context, the Romanian Minister underscored, once again, that Romania believes that the return decisions had not been explained and communicated to each Romanian citizen involved or to the Romanian authorities, and renewed the call for the Mexican authorities to clarify the concrete reasons and the entire situation.

Minister Aurescu also pointed out the lack of prior signals, through diplomatic channels, from the Mexican authorities, recalling the good traditional relations between Romania and the United Mexican States.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy informed the Mexican counterpart about the situation of the Romanian citizens who were not allowed access to Mexico and who are still waiting for repatriation, including families with children, in the meantime being forced to wait in improper conditions.

He made a special appeal to his counterpart to identify immediate measures to improve the waiting conditions for the 114 Romanian citizens currently stranded at the Cancun International Airport, as well as the way in which they are being treated by the Mexican authorities on the airport. He pointed out that,only through the sustained efforts of the Romanian Embassy to Mexico and the Honorary Consul of Romania in Cancun food and water could be provided for these people. Romania's ad-interim charge d'affairs to Mexico is at the Cancun International Airport to provide on-site assistance to the Romanian citizens awaiting return flights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Aurescu also underscored, during the discussion, "the strong negative echoes in the Romanian public space, including at the institutional level, in the mass media and among the economic operators in the field of tourism and voiced concern about the impact of this situation on the relationship between Romania and the United Mexican States, which has seen an upward trend in recent years, as well as the attractiveness of Mexico as a tourist destination."

The Mexican counterpart assured that he would quickly inform the Romanian side about the concrete measures considered by the Mexican authorities and assured that he would take immediate steps to improve the waiting conditions for Romanian citizens at the Cancun airport.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out that a travel warning for Mexico was issued on Wednesday, available online at www.mae.ro/node/54857. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Florin Marin, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)