Romania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana Toiu is on an official visit to Warsaw on Tuesday at the invitation of Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski, on the occasion of Romanian-Polish Solidarity Day.

According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) press release, the visit includes a working agenda focused on security and negotiations concerning European funds.

The Romanian ministry says that, given the need to prioritise the management of recent security developments and the consular situation in the Middle East, the duration of the visit - initially scheduled for 3 to 5 March - has been reduced to a single day. This also includes time allocated to virtual meetings of Romania's crisis cell.

‘We regret that the shortening of the agenda on 4 and 5 March has required the cancellation of the meeting with the Romanian community in Poland as well as other items in the original schedule,' the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.

‘Friendships are strengthened in difficult times. Romania and Poland have the first strategic security partnership in Europe, signed in 1921, and today our cooperation is essential in ensuring that the priorities of our region are at the centre of European policies, for transatlantic cooperation and for security on the Eastern Flank. Today we are marking the friendship and the extraordinary resilience of our peoples during the three decades of transition,' Oana Toiu is quoted in the press release as saying.

The visit will include bilateral political consultations with her Polish counterpart, with the discussions focusing on topics such as bilateral and European-level cooperation, current challenges on the international stage with an emphasis on security developments and the negotiation files concerning European funds allocated to both countries under the next multiannual budget of the European Union, negotiations coordinated by the foreign ministries.

Through this visit to Warsaw, Minister Oana Toiu highlights ‘the excellent level of relations between Romania and Poland, built on deep historical ties and a tradition of close cooperation confirmed by the Strategic Partnership between the two countries,' the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also shows. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)