All eyes in world democracies continue to follow the
developments in Ukraine and the consequences of the Russian aggression for
nearly a year. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Japan’s Foreign
Minister, Hayashi Yoshimasa, on Tuesday presided a G7+ Foreign Ministers
meeting held in videoconference format. This was the second meeting of this
type, the first having been held in Romania at the end of 2022, on the
sidelines of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting. Attending the event were
Foreign Ministers or high-ranking officials from G7 states – the USA, Japan,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom as well as from the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and
representatives of the European Union, the European Energy Community, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the United Nations
Development Program and the World Bank.
Participants examined the situation of
Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which sustained massive and repeated attacks
from Russia, and talks focused on the international community’s support for
Ukraine with a view to helping this country cope with the fallout from these
attacks and boost its resilience. Romania’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu,
called for increasing the assistance provided to Ukraine, stating that Romania
would continue to support this country in cooperation with all partners sharing
its visions and goals. Minister Aurescu said the repeated large-scale attacks
targeting the civilian infrastructure in Ukraine is a blatant violation of
humanitarian international law, their sole purpose being to quell the
resistance of the Ukrainian people. The international community must not allow
that, Bogdan Aurescu argued.
As regards Romania’s assistance to consolidating
energy security in Ukraine, the Romanian Foreign Minister pointed out that the
humanitarian hub in Suceava (northeast) has facilitated the transit of 40
generators purchased by Romania with EU funds, of dozens of other generators
provided by the government and local Romanian authorities, as well as over 160
generators donated by France. Minister Aurescu also referred to plans to
organize a new trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers from Romania, Ukraine
and the Republic of Moldova in February, after the previous one organized in
Odesa in September last year, when the three countries agreed on joint actions
to develop interconnectivity and consolidating the energy security of Ukraine
and the Republic of Moldova and in the medium and long terms. Bogdan Aurescu
also referred to the special situation in the Republic of Moldova, a country
facing a severe energy crisis generated by restrictions to the availability of
and access to energy resources. Romania covers 80% of Moldova’s total
electricity input, Minister Aurescu recalled, and also ensures the safe transit
of natural gas to this country via the Iași-Ungheni-Chișinău pipeline. (VP)