Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana Toiu stated on Monday that discussions with her Canadian counterpart, Anita Anand, focused on the refurbishment of Unit 1 and plans for the construction of Units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda.

She highlighted the fact that 30 years have passed since the official inauguration of Unit 1 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, which is based on Canadian CANDU technology.

'At the bilateral level, the priorities are clear: defense and security, and nuclear energy. A significant part of our discussion focused on the refurbishment of Unit 1 and the plans to build Units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda. (...) Thirty years have passed since a new nuclear energy project was commissioned in Europe. Currently, many countries are interested in introducing nuclear energy into their energy mix or increasing its share. Nuclear energy accounts for 20% of Romania's energy mix,' said Oana Toiu during a joint press conference with Anita Anand at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters.

Toiu mentioned that our country aims to increase the share of nuclear energy to 30-40% of the energy mix, in order to maintain prices at a level that ensures the competitiveness of Romanian industry.

'We discussed how Romania and Canada can work together to further promote these projects. Indeed, this marks 50 years since the formal launch of cooperation between Romania and Canada in the field of nuclear energy—a model that other countries are also closely watching,' she stated.

Oana Toiu also highlighted the presence in Romania of Canadian naval officers participating in Black Sea activities, including mine-clearing operations.

'In Ankara, Romania and Canada will reaffirm their status as reliable allies making significant contributions to Euro-Atlantic security—national contributions in areas of interest on the meeting's agenda. Indeed, the NATO summit in Ankara also aims to monitor the progress of the funding commitments made at the Hague summit. Both Romania and Canada are countries making a positive contribution to this process regarding budget allocations,' she emphasized.

The minister also addressed Canada's involvement in the initiative to return abducted Ukrainian children. The next meeting of foreign ministers on this subject will take place in Toronto this autumn.

'Throughout these months, we will continue to contribute—both bilaterally and in multilateral formats—to ensuring that we can support as many of these families as possible so they can be reunited with the children abducted during this war of aggression,' she said.

The Foreign Minister added that bilateral trade has grown by 70% over the last ten years, reaching 1 billion euros. Oana Toiu noted the presence of a significant Romanian community in Canada and pointed out that the discussions also addressed how the expansion of trade relations could take this factor into account.

Toiu emphasized that Romania and Canada share a 'vibrant and solid' relationship and that the partnership between the two countries has steadily grown in recent years. Bilateral discussions focused on the contributions of both nations within NATO toward enhancing global security.

'The upcoming visit of the *Mircea* training ship to Halifax—scheduled for July 19-23—also serves as a symbol of maritime cooperation. The *Mircea* and its crew departed from Romania in April. It was present in New York to celebrate the friendship between Romania and the USA on July 4th, and this visit to Halifax follows to symbolize the transatlantic relationship, partnership, and friendship with Canada,' she stated.AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Irinela Visan, editing by: Antonia Nita; EN - writing by: Catalin Cristian Trandafir)