PM Ciuca - working visit, on Tuesday, to Ukraine; accompanied by Marcel Ciolacu and Bogdan Aurescu

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has conducted, on Tuesday, a working visit to Ukraine, in Kyiv, accompanied by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, the Government announced.According to a release from gov.ro, Prime Minister Ciuca was welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and had meetings with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk.The agenda of the visit included visits to the localities of Borodyanka and Irpin, in the proximity of the capital Kyiv, heavily affected by the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified aggression of Russia on Ukraine, the Government in Bucharest informs."Prime Minister Ciuca sent a message of condemnation in the firmest terms of the Russian invasion, of the human atrocities and material destruction, expressing the support of Romania for the conduct of an international investigation to punish those guilty of committing international crimes, including through the recent voluntary financial contribution, decided by the Government of Romania, to the Fiduciary Fund of the International Criminal Court," mentions the quoted release.According to the Government, in the discussions with Ukrainian officials, the Prime Minister of Romania reiterated support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and presented measures for multi-dimensional support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the context of the war, including to manage the over 820,000 refugees that crossed the border with Romania.The Prime Minister emphasized "the numerous administrative measures adopted since the start of Russian aggression to allow access to Ukrainian refugees on the national territory and to ensure the necessary conditions for protection, as well as the creation of refugee camps, the regulation of free access to medical, educational and transport services, as well as to the labor market."Furthermore, the Prime Minister emphasized that Romania also assumed a role as intermediary in the transfer of international aid to Ukraine, through the humanitarian hub established in Suceava on March 9, which was used until now by 32 humanitarian convoys with 163 trucks.In the context of the visit, Prime Minister Ciuca "analyzed together with Ukrainian officials new possibilities of support for Ukraine." According to the Government, the examination regarded the diminishment of the negative effects of the war on the Ukrainian economy, especially in what regards the possibilities to achieve exports of grains and products of animal origin.Among other things, Prime Minister Ciuca mentioned as a concrete measure for support the temporary liberalization by Romania on the national territory of road freighting conducted by Ukrainian operators starting April 5, 2022, starting the rehabilitation of a wide gauge railway in the port of Galati to facilitate direct access of trains from Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and to shorten the freight transfer time, analyzing the possibilities of increasing the transit capacity through the joint border crossing points and the extended facilitation of the sanitary-veterinary control at these points, extending capacities to handle freight from Ukraine through Constanta harbor.The Romanian Prime Minister emphasized the importance of developing connectivity between Romania and Ukraine through the opening of new border crossing points and reiterated that "Romania is available and interested in substantially participating in the post-conflict reconstruction process of Ukraine, depending on the parameters and priorities defined by the Ukrainian authorities a dedicated bilateral dialogue will be set up concretely on the topic."In what regards the bilateral relation, Nicolae Ciuca conveyed, according to the quoted source, the desire to advance the Romanian-Ukrainian relation to a higher level, starting with the existing potential for cooperation, joint security interests and the solidarity between the two peoples, manifested heavily, in a concrete manner, since the start of the Russian aggression.Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca reiterated the firm support of Romania for the aspirations of Ukraine to integrate in the European Union and congratulated Kyiv for sending the responses to the first part of the accession questionnaire."All Ukrainian speakers thanked the Romanian Government and Romanian citizens for the support granted in various domains of direct interest for the Ukrainian side and for the solidarity manifested, with a lot of empathy, since the start of the Russian military aggression. They presented the developments in the field of the military confrontation and the necessities for support on several levels. They hailed and claimed availability to create a new, superior partnership profile, in all dimensions, for the Romanian-Ukrainian bilateral relation and gave assurances regarding respect for identity rights of Romanian ethnics," the Government's release also shows.   In turn, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, said, on Tuesday, to Kyiv officials. that Romania wants to be the main hub for stability and security in the region, and the harbors of Constanta and Galati need to be the main strategic connection points between the two countries, between Ukraine and Europe, but also with the rest of the world.He accompanied Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in the working visit conducted to Ukraine."I was, on the third day of Easter, in Ukraine to express my solidarity with a people, of which numerous Romanian ethnics are part of, a people under heavy trials, who has not known peace not even on the occasion of the most important holiday of Christianity," wrote Marcel Cioalcu on his Facebook page."Moreover, I went to see, in Irpin and Borodyanka, the destruction caused by the Russian army. During discussions with Ukrainian officials, I sent two major messages: Romania wants to be the main hub for stability and security in the region and, thus, be more actively involved in the reconstruction process of Ukraine, after the war, both at the government level, as well as with Romanian companies. Moreover, the ports of Constanta and Galati need to be the main strategic connection points between the two countries, between Ukraine and Europe, but also the rest of the world. I said that, in the accession process of Ukraine to the EU, the Romanian community in this country must enjoy all the rights that minorities in member-states of the Union and Romania enjoy - this being a natural process that any state in the accession process has gone through," said Marcel Ciolacu.  (Source photo: gov.ro)