ForMin Aurescu to participate in FAC meeting on Monday

Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate in Brussels on Monday in the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers from EU member states (Foreign Affairs Council - FAC), a meeting debating geopolitical aspects related to the new digital technologies, EU's Strategic Compass and the situation in Ethiopia, as well as recent developments in Afghanistan and Lebanon. According to Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES on Sunday, the head of the Romanian diplomacy will make a presentation of the results and conclusions of the recent tour carried out with the foreign ministers from Austria and Lithuania to the South Caucasus (June 24-26). On the sidelines of the FAC meeting, the European ministers will participate in an informal breakfast with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. At the same time, the foreign ministers will have an informal lunch with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Regarding the results of the tour carried out with his counterparts from Austria and Lithuania, to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, also in coordination with the mandate of the EU High Representative, Bogdan Aurescu will show "that the visit represented the first concrete result after the informal discussions at the Gymnich meeting of May 26 - 27, 2021," when, on his initiative, the issue of protracted conflicts in the Eastern Neighborhood of the Union was addressed for the first time at European level, as well as the concrete tools that can be used by the EU for their management and solving. "Minister Bogdan Aurescu will present the main conclusions of the visit, among which the reaffirmation of EU's commitment to security, stability and prosperity in the region and EU's role as a reliable partner for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, which can provide valuable support for solving sensitive issues in the region, also through a more intense and structured regional cooperation. The Romanian minister will advance a series of comprehensive proposals on the role that the EU can play in the region and the ways of more effective involvement in managing and solving protracted conflicts, but also in consolidating the resilience of the partners," the MAE release also reads. The meeting will also include a discussion on the Strategic Compass (a reflection process of the European Union, which aims to define EU's role as a relevant actor in the field of security and defence). It is the first exchange of views on this matter on a foreign minister level. The discussions are relevant from the perspective of expressing the visions of the member states on partnerships and resilience, aspects that will be taken into account in the process of drafting the Compass. Aurescu will refer to the importance of partnerships, especially those with the US and NATO, emphasising the need to ensure EU - NATO complementarity. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)