ForMin, Ukrainian counterpart phone conversation; Romanian minority in Ukraine, among topics

Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday had a telephone conversation with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, with whom he talked about the situation of the Romanian minority in the neighbour country, as well as Romania's endorsement for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. According to a Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES, during the conversation the two assessed the situation generated by the novel coronavirus and the response demarches of the two states. Moreover, they reviewed the most important topics on the bilateral agenda, the stage and prospects of the Romanian - Ukrainian relations, as well as the modalities to promote bilateral dialogue. According to the quoted source, the Romanian minister highlighted the availability to cooperate regarding the punctual cases of transit on the Romanian territory by Ukrainian citizens who want to return to Ukraine from third countries, with strict observance of the norms imposed by the Romanian authorities in the context of the effort for the management and prevention of the SARS-COV-2 expansion. The head of the Romanian diplomacy highlighted the constant support of Romania for the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities aimed at the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, as well as for its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Furthermore, Aurescu underscored Romania's special attention granted to ensuring the rights of persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Ukraine, mainly to the right to education in the Romanian language, in accordance with the international norms and standards in the area, MAE shows. He thus asked the resumption, as soon as possible, when the situation related to SARS-COV-2 allows it, of the bilateral dialogue formats on this topic, highlighting at the same time the need to identify some sustainable solutions, in accordance with the interests of the persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Ukraine. In this context, he also evoked the discussion between President Klaus Iohannis and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sideline of the high level segment of the 74th UN General Assembly, of September 2019, when, following the demarches of the Romanian head of state, Ukraine's President sent assurances in the direction of identifying of a solution to the problems created by the adoption of the Education Law in Ukraine in September 2017. Moreover, Minister Bogdan Aurescu addressed the invitation to the Ukrainian counterpart to pay a visit to Romania, an invitation accepted by his counterpart. In his turn, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister thanked Romania for the support given in the context of the pandemic with the novel coronavirus, regarding the consistent position of Romania in the support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as for the support for Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic integration efforts. He also mentioned openness for solving the bilateral issues evoked by the head of Romanian diplomacy, the two head diplomats agreeing to stay in direct contact in the next period to find a solution to the problem of the right to education of the Romanian minority from Ukraine. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Adina Panaitescu, editor: Rodica State)