All Romanian citizens in the areas affected by the conflict in the Middle East are currently safe, Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana Toiu said on Sunday evening.

'Our priority remains the safety of our citizens. We have this important information, especially for the families of Romanian citizens in the region, that up to this moment there has been no incident reported to our missions or to the authorities of the Middle Eastern countries. According to the information we have at this time, all Romanian citizens are safe, the groups of children who travelled to the Middle East prior to this situation of heightened insecurity are accompanied by adults and are in direct contact with our consular teams, this remains our priority. We reiterate our call for Romanian citizens to register in the database so that we can keep in touch with them. Of course, we are in a context of heightened anxiety, we acknowledge this, (...) we have allocated additional resources today both to the central call centre and at mission level, wherever possible, and we will continue to do so over the coming days,' Oana Toiu said at a press briefing held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) headquarters.

The head of Romanian diplomacy pointed out that she had participated in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, convened by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, during which she discussed recent developments in the Middle East with the other European Union ministers.

'The situation in Israel and Iran remains extremely tense, missile fire continues at an increased intensity, this happened both overnight and throughout today. However, I reiterate this conclusion, which is very important: Romanian citizens are safe, the countries in the region have managed to defend their airspace, all Romanian citizens are currently, according to the information we have, in secure accommodation and we have no indications to suggest that their level of safety will be different in the coming days. Of course, in a region with heightened risk and a significant degree of anxiety it is difficult to anticipate the duration and intensity of hostilities in the coming days, however most European Union member states mirror the approach we are also taking in Romania through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, namely to take into account the recommendations of the countries where our citizens are located. At this moment, the recommendation is to prioritise personal safety and therefore exercise caution when choosing to travel, including by land towards border crossing points,' the Foreign Affairs minister mentioned.

Oana Toiu stressed that the Romanian authorities - the ministries together with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and President Nicusor Dan - are analysing plans to evacuate Romanian citizens.

She said that on Monday morning at 9:30 a meeting will take place at the Government, chaired by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, during which the plans proposed by the crisis cell of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be discussed together with representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and the deputy prime ministers.

'However, we mention that it is very important to bear in mind that developments in the region cannot be anticipated, which means that we will remain committed to prioritising the safety of Romanian citizens, so depending on the recommendations of the respective countries we will subsequently present evacuation plans, when possible, when the airspace is reopened or when transit to countries with open airspace is considered safe,' Oana Toiu said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Karina Olteanu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)

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