Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu attended on Thursday a transatlantic working dinner of the EU and NATO foreign affairs ministers, a traditional event hosted by the US and carried out in New York, on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

According to a Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES on Saturday, the discussions were also attended by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Moreover, also attending the event were foreign affairs ministers of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.

"Within this framework, the main topical issues on the international agenda were debated, with an emphasis on the developments in Ukraine, which have a major and direct impact on the security and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic area. The participants agreed that, in the international context marked by Russia's illegal, unprovoked and unjustified military aggression in Ukraine, the strengthening of resilience and the transatlantic relation remain essentials," the release shows.

The quoted source mentioned that Minister Bogdan Aurescu reconfirmed Romania's strong commitment to deepen the transatlantic relation, grounded in the realisation of the fact that only by maintaining unity and having coordinated actions a significant progress can be made in terms of increasing security, including energy, of the transatlantic space or identifying solutions to the global food crisis.

"Therefore, he underscored that one of the effects of Russia's war against Ukraine has also been the reinforcement of the transatlantic relation, which currently is more stronger than ever, contrary to Russia's aspirations which relied on speculating divisions between the two shores of the Atlantic. Moreover, taking into account Russia's actions to manipulate the international democratic states by using the strategic dependencies related, among others, to energy or food, Minister Aurescu underscored the necessity to remove any dependencies of Russia, both of Western states and that of their partners," the MAE release said.

At the same time, the Foreign Affairs Minister highlighted the importance of protecting the values which are the basis of the transatlantic community and, in general, of the international order based on rules, in the context in which Russia's war in Ukraine is not only an attack over the foundations of Euro-Atlantic security, with global implications, but, as well as over these values.

"In terms of security, Minister Aurescu highlighted the importance of quickly and fully implementing the decisions taken at the NATO Summit in Madrid and showed that a relevant moment to measure the progress in achieving these objectives will be represented by the meeting of the NATO foreign ministers, which Minister Aurescu shall host it in Bucharest, at the end of 22 November. At the same time, he emphasised that the Alliance must continue to strengthen its defense and deterrence position on the Eastern Flank, in line with the decisions made in Madrid, and highlighted the fact that also the latest developments, reconfirm that the Black Sea region remains of strategic importance for the Euro-Atlantic security, as Romania has consistently maintained," the press release mentions. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Adina Panaitescu)