The Romanian foreign minister at the UN
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East dominated the agenda of the Romanian foreign minister, Luminița Odobescu, at the UN General Assembly meeting.
Bogdan Matei, 30.09.2024, 14:00
Russia’s attacks on the civilian infrastructure in Ukraine carry on, and consolidating the defence in this country is important, which is an aspect to which Ukraine’s neighbor, Romania, also contributes with the donation of a Patriot missile defence system, the Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu told the Romanian mass media.
The Romanian diplomacy chief last week took part in the UN General Assembly in New York, where she voiced support for the peace plan put forth by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
She said peace in Ukraine must be ‘a just peace,’ based on international law and the UN Charter, and one which recognizes the territorial integrity and independence of Moscow-invaded Ukraine.
The Romanian official explained that she had also discussed the drone attacks on Ukraine’s Romanian border with Bucharest’s Western partners and allies. She also mentioned that a merchant ship carrying Ukrainian grain was recently hit by a Russian missile in the Black Sea. Such attacks ‘affect the security and freedom of navigaton and are flagrant violations of international rules,’ the Romanian foreign minister emphasised.
On the other hand, the security situation in the Middle East is volatile and it is very important that a war affecting the entire region be avoided, Luminiţa Odobescu pointed out.
In the bilateral meetings in New York with political leaders in the Arab world—Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates—she reiterated that Romania consistently supported a two-state solution. But until that time, a lasting truce in Gaza is crucial, concurrently with the release of all the Israeli hostages kidnapped by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, and with continuing humanitarian aid for the civilians in Gaza.
Luminiţa Odobescu emphasized that Bucharest is providing humanitarian aid to Gaza and voiced willingness for Romanian hospitals to treat children from that region, which has been devastated for a year now by a war that has killed over 40,000 and left another 100,000 others wounded.
As for a possible spillover of this conflict to Lebanon, Luminiţa Odobescu said the Romanian diplomatic mission in that country focuses on the Romanian nationals who live there with their families. According to the Romanian official, so far nearly 1,000 Romanian nationals and family members have notified their presence in Lebanon to the Romanian Embassy in Beirut, but no evacuation requests have been received so far. Minister Odobescu reiterated the Romanian authorities’ call on Romanian nationals to avoid traveling to Lebanon, given the recent security developments in the region. (AMP)
