Aurescu: "Black Sea Security Summit" reconfirmed Romania's high geostrategic profile as US strategic partner

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, declared on Friday in Constanta, in a press conference organized at the end of the "Black Sea Security Summit", that this event proved once again the importance of the transatlantic link, Romania 's high geostrategic profile as a strategic partner of the USA, a reliable ally within NATO and a mature and responsible EU member state, actively involved in the Black Sea."This event once again proved the importance of the transatlantic link, Romania's high geostrategic profile as a strategic partner of the United States, a reliable ally within NATO and, at the same time, a mature and responsible member of the European Union actively involved in the Black Sea. (...) The event here in Constanta is a first for Romania and a rare event in the external action of the United States' Congress. A previous meeting took place in 2019 in Gdansk, Poland, with the theme of the Baltic Sea issue," Aurescu said.According to him, the discussions that took place during the "Black Sea Security Summit" round table were very important from several perspectives."In addition to the special significance of the anniversary of a quarter of a century of strategic partnership, today's discussions were very important from several perspectives. Firstly, because they reflected the strong support of the US Congress members for the security and stability of the Black Sea region. Secondly, they reflected the particular interest in this topic of US Congress members who have multiple competencies and responsibilities in approving legislative initiatives that impact the US presence, including for the US military presence in Europe. Thirdly, our discussions take place right after the end of the NATO Summit in Madrid, which was a historic one and which took major decisions to strengthen the position of deterrence and defense on the eastern flank, now seen as a unitary whole from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea," said the foreign minister.At the meeting in Constanta, the solidarity of NATO allies in the face of threats from the Russian Federation was emphasized."Today we discussed at length the strategic issues related to the Black Sea, we insisted on maintaining transatlantic unity, solidarity, our common action as allies in the face of a growing threat from the Russian Federation, which affects us all. We stressed that the challenges related to the Black Sea must be addressed in a broader framework of the transatlantic partnership, and we have also highlighted the major importance of the formats that Romania has proposed and developed, such as Bucharest 9 and the Three Seas Initiative, which benefit from the US' support. In this context, our strategic partnership has a distinct role to play, and its diversification is extremely important. We talked about energy security, about many other aspects related to the support of the United States for regional security and also for Romania's security. We are grateful for the intention and decision announced by the United States to increase the military presence in Romania and we are grateful to the American partners for this new confirmation of the importance that the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States has. Last but not least, we discussed food security and the efforts that Romania is making in this regard, and we also discussed the extended security guarantees that the decisions of the Madrid Summit bring for Romania and for the other allies on the eastern flank," Aurescu said.He concluded by saying that, "as today's talks reconfirmed," the Black Sea will remain "a priority on NATO's agenda, a priority on the agenda of the United States and Romania."The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, co-chaired together with the American senator Roger Wicker the round table "Black Sea Security Summit", organized by the US Congress' Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe.