ForMin Melescanu, Qatari Deputy PM Al Thani discuss co-operation, Gulf area

Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Thursday welcomed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss opportunities for developing relations but also the situation in the Gulf area, including a recent attack on tankers. At a news conference held at the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), Melescanu showed that in 2018 the Romanian-Qatari political and diplomatic dialogue "witnessed a special dynamic." "We discussed the latest developments in and prospects for developing the Romanian-Qatari bilateral co-operation on traditional levels of interest, namely agriculture, energy, industry and tourism, for which we analysed together various ways of stimulating bilateral partnerships in all these areas. Our conversation very clearly revealed that there are much larger, unexplored opportunities for economic co-operation, as the potential of the economies of the two countries is special. I told Deputy Prime Minister Al Thani about the importance Romania attaches to business-to-business contacts, both through the use of existing dialogue platforms and by organising special events to promote investment and engagement in various joint projects. We have also noticed with great satisfaction a potential for successful collaboration in niche areas such as information technology and communications, renewable power, environmental protection and preservation, education, research and medicine," Melescanu said. He highlighted Romania's concern in the aftermath of May 12 and June 13 attacks on tankers and a cargo ship. Al Thani called for a resolution through dialogue of tensions in the Gulf region. "We also discussed regional affairs and issues of the Gulf Cooperation Council. We are trying to find solutions to overcome these problems that arose with the embargo against the state of Qatar in 2017. We also addressed issues such as existing tensions in the Gulf region, and I mean here tensions generated by Iran's actions, which seriously harm security in the area as well as global energy security. After all, Iran is a neighbouring state in the Gulf region, and if there are divergences between Iran and other states in the Gulf, we need to solve these problems by dialogue, as geographic neighborhood requires peaceful co-existence. We are urging all countries of the world to advocate for a solution to this problem, especially between Iran and the US, through dialogue as well. We also discussed the Middle East peace process, and we need to find a peaceful and fair solution for the Palestinian nation in line with the relevant international decisions. We will do our best to alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers. There must be co-ordination between us inside international organisations," the Qatari foreign minister said.AGERPRES (RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Maria Voican)

Continue reading on: