Minister Lajcak: Slovakia continues to be strong supporter of Romania's accession to Schengen Area

Slovakia continues to be a strong supporter of Romania's accession to the Schengen Area and of its candidacy for OECD membership, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Government of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajcak, on a visit to Bucharest, said on Tuesday. During a joint press conference alongside Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu, Miroslav Lajcak highlighted the Romanian policy on minorities. "Romanian minority policy could be considered as a model," Lajcak said. In his turn, Minister Aurescu noted the common vision of the two countries on EU enlargement. "Both states are strong supporters of the enlargement of the European Union and we have a remarkable convergence between our positions and approaches on this issue. I have stressed the importance of the enlargement process for the states in the region, a process that must continue without further obstacles. We support the adoption of a decision to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia as soon as possible," he said. Bogdan Aurescu also mentioned the Three Seas Initiative, in which Romania and Slovakia are involved. "I welcomed the recent announcement made by the US at the Munich Security Conference - the allocation of up to 1 billion US dollars for interconnection projects under this initiative," the head of Romanian diplomacy said. Regarding the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework, Aurescu highlighted "Romania's interest in an ambitious budget to maintain the necessary funding for the Cohesion Policy, for the Common Agricultural Policy".AGERPRES(RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)

Continue reading on: