Senate Interim President Mircea Abrudean, who is on an official visit to Paris on Monday and Tuesday, said that Romania's accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) remains a national strategic project.

According to a Senate press release sent to AGERPRES, the Romanian official had meetings with the French Senate President Gerard Larcher and with Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Mathias Cormann.

During discussions with Gerard Larcher, strategic topics of interest for the Romanian-French bilateral relations were addressed, highlighting the fact that France is an essential partner for Romania.

'This year marks 145 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the intensity of high-level political contacts in recent times demonstrates the solidity of these ties, including at the parliamentary level,' the quoted source mentions.

Furthermore, deepening the economic dimension of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and France was discussed, in the context of current global economic challenges. The common priority is to develop collaboration in high-added-value sectors such as information and communication technology, aerospace industry, energy and defence industry.

The Romanian Senate interim president underlined the importance of cooperation in the regional security area to strengthen bilateral economic relations: 'Romania and France share the same values in a continuously changing security context. We discussed regional security, essential for the development of stronger economic cooperation. A key point on the agenda was supporting Romania's accession to the OECD, a national goal we aim to achieve in 2026.'

During the meeting with Mathias Cormann, Mircea Abrudean reaffirmed Romania's firm commitment to completing the accession process by 2026.

At the same time, he thanked the OECD official for the constant support given to Romania and highlighted the significant progress made so far.

'Romania's accession to the OECD remains a national strategic project. Being part of this group of countries means more prosperity for Romania and represents a strong indicator of confidence for both domestic and international investors, in terms of the health of our internal economy. I will continue to support this fundamental goal, just as I have done until now: with responsibility, transparency, honesty, and fairness!,' the Romanian official also said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Livia Popescu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)