Aurescu underlines Romania's interest in Indo-Pacific region, in a conversation with the Australian Minister of Commerce

 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the second day of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy (RADR), a telephone conversation with Dan Tehan, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment from Australia, special guest of the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs at the RADR session on "Resilience during the pandemic. Strengthening cooperation between partners".During the telephone conversation, the head of the Romanian diplomacy underlined "Romania's firm commitment for the development and diversification of the bilateral relationship with Australia, as well as the increased interest for the Indo-Pacific region, in which Australia plays a very important role," reads a Foreign Ministry (MAE) release.Minister Aurescu also highlighted, in agreement with Minister Tehan, the similarities between the strategic priorities of the two states, at international and multilateral level, as well as the common commitments to promote democratic values and principles and the global rule-based order.Regarding the bilateral collaboration, the two ministers emphasized a pragmatic and results-oriented approach, starting from the recent Australian investments in the energy field in Romania. In this context, the renewed potential for bilateral collaboration with Australia emerged in areas such as cyber security, including from the perspective of Romania hosting the new EU Cyber Center (European Center for Industrial, Technological and Research Skills in Cyber Security).The Romanian minister stressed the importance of sharing experience in the field of resilience and highlighted the opportunity offered by the Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience hosted in Bucharest since May 2021.Minister Bogdan Aurescu also pointed out the importance that the Romanian Government attaches to the accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and expressed the hope that the new Secretary General of the organization, Mathias Cormann, will succeed in advancing the negotiations. Minister Tehan reconfirmed Australia's support for Romania's goal.For his part, the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment of Australia, Dan Tehan, conveyed the interest of the Australian side in the prospects of strengthening and expanding political and economic relations between Romania and Australia, based on values and priorities shared globally and multilaterally, also considering Romania's quality as an EU member state. He stressed the importance that Australia attaches to the conclusion, as soon as possible, of the Free Trade Agreement with the EU, Romania confirming its support in this regard.