President Iohannis: Increasing Romania's role in EU and NATO, deepening partnership with the US, essential

President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the "golden triangle" of Romania's foreign policy, namely increasing the country's role in the European Union and NATO and deepening and developing its strategic partnership with the US, remains essential."To Romania, what we called at a previous meeting of ours the 'golden triangle' of Romania's foreign policy remains essential: increasing our role in the European Union and NATO, and further developing and deepening the strategic partnership with the United States of America. At the same time, domestically, we need close inter-institutional co-operation, redoubled by co-operation between the state and society in order to strengthen Romania in the face of current and future risks and challenges. Our resilience, as a state and society, must also be strengthened by a deeper anchoring of all our citizens in the fundamental democratic, European and Euro-Atlantic values. And on that area of action, the Romanian diplomacy has a role to play: you must continue to be our interface that underlines and brings to the country the positive lessons learned that are beneficial to the modernisation of Romania," the chief of state told Romanian ambassadors and consuls in video remarks to the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy (RADR) 2021.He pointed out that Romania's National Strategy for the Defence of the Country, adopted in 2020, takes into account the new trends facing Romania in a pandemic context, with a major impact on security and international relationships.He appreciated the fact that a permanent exercise of strategic reflection is taking place at the level of Romanian diplomacy and the fact that this year the diplomacy meeting concentrates its debate on the concept of resilience."Diplomacy plays a leading role in the efforts at national and European level to respond to the new international context and to be able to adjust continuously and with a vision to the challenges we face. We have to actually and solidly participate in the common action inside the European Union, inside NATO and with the partners with whom we share the same values and the same approach in order to defend the strategic interests that unite us and to reduce the dependence on partners with behaviours and objectives running contrary to them. That is why the Romanian diplomacy has to stay engaged, particularly in the ongoing reflection processes within NATO and the European Union, in terms of the comprehensive concept of resilience, to identify the most appropriate and effective responses to new challenges and changes," said Iohannis.He also commended the Romanian diplomats for their involvement with very good results in the 'battle' against the COVID-19 pandemic, to the direct benefit of the Romanian citizens.     President Klaus Iohannis also stated on Tuesday that Romania is getting involved, alongside its partners, in reducing as much as possible "the effects in terms of security" of the recent developments in Afghanistan."In what concerns the recent developments in Afghanistan, we are getting involved, alongside our partners, to reduce the security effects, as much as possible," said Iohannis.The President reiterated his appreciation of the activity of the Inter-institutional Crisis Cell coordinated at the MAE (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) level, which managed to bring 49 Romanian citizens back home and 7 citizens of allied states, and also to evacuate 156 Afghan citizens.    President Klaus Iohannis also asked on Tuesday Romanian diplomats to continue their efforts to achieve the objectives at the European level, such as Romania's accession to the Schengen area."On all major 'European files,' Romanian diplomacy must increase its capacity to anticipate trends, to identify strategic elements that support the promotion of national interests. I encourage you to come up with initiatives that our country could implement or associate with and put into equation various alliances and partnerships in this sense. Please continue the steps towards achieving our goals at the European level, such as joining the Schengen area," said the head of state.Iohannis also conveyed that Romania must contribute more to the process regarding the EU perspectives."This pandemic will not be the last challenge for Brussels and the member states. Therefore, we need to better prepare for the future, increase our capacity to anticipate and improve European crisis management mechanisms for future situations. We need, for example, a Health Union and increasing the productivity and capacity of the industry. Digitalization is one of the transformative trends accelerated by the pandemic, along with the need to rethink the size of the transition to a sustainable and green future. This transformation is necessary not only as an adaptation to the crisis but also as an approach to support the resilience of the European Union and the member states, which implies a joint effort, in which the role of each country, including Romania, is essential," Iohannis added.The head of state also asked Romanian diplomats to get involved in the negotiation of NATO's new Strategic Concept."Please get involved with all your energy and vision in negotiating it. In this complex negotiating process, several priorities must be upheld, such as strengthening NATO's position coherently throughout the Eastern Flank and strengthening the increased strategic focus on the Black Sea area, supporting the partners in the Eastern Neighborhood and developing their capacity to respond adequately to any potential crisis. At the same time, Romania continues to firmly maintain its commitment to allocate 2% of GDP to Defence, necessary for the endowment and modernization of our armed forces," Iohannis said.He underscored that the transatlantic connection is of vital importance for Romania.