Romania's strategic priority for the Black Sea region - underlined by Odobescu at the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya

  The minister of foreign affairs, Luminita Odobescu said on Saturday during the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya the strategic priority offered by Romania to the region of the Black Sea, both under the aspect of security and of economic and connectivity development.According to the MFA press release, Luminita Odobescu took part on Saturday during the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya as main speaker in the panel ‘ The Black Sea: a new version 2.0 of regional responsibility?’ The other speakers in the panel were the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Turkey, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, Mikola Tochytski and the general secretary of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation at the Black Sea, Lazar Comanescu, says the quoted source.‘During the debates, minister Luminita Odobescu mentioned the strategic priority given by Romania to the Black Sea region, both under the aspect of security, and that of connectivity and economic development. She spoke about Romania’s commitment in the plan of regional cooperation, together with the NATO member states, and the EU member states and the regional partners who share the same values. The Romanian minister mentioned the importance of consolidation of NATO position for defense and deterrence in the region of the Black Sea, in parallel to the strengthening of the economic development dimension. In this sense, she spoke about the necessity to develop of the projects of connectivity, energy, infrastructure, in parallel to strengthening the initiatives of the EU as well as the Synergy of the Black Sea and the Common Maritime Agenda’ MFA says.During the discussions, the Romanian official spoke about the positive perspectives for cooperation between the NATO states in the region- Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria – in the domain of mine clearance, cooperation which could be extended to other domains.On the margin of the Forum, minister Luminita Odobescu had bilateral meetings with the ministers of foreign affairs of the Republic of Turkey – Hakan Fidan, the Republic of Moldova – Mihai Popsoi, the Republic of North Macedonia – Bujar Osmani, the Swiss Confederation – Ignazio Cassis, the Republicof Slovakia – Juraj Blanar, Palestine – Riyad al-Maliki, the Republic of Liban – Abdallah Bouhabib, the Republic of Serbia – Ivica Dacic, Montenegro – Filip Ivanovic and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Elmedin Konakovic, informs MFA. According to the press release, the agenda included meetings with the secretary general of the European Council, Marija Buric, with the special representative of the British prime minister for Western Balkans, Lord Stuart Peach and the general manager of the World Organisation for Intellectual Property (WIPO), Daren Tang.Initiated in 2021, the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya is an important conference both at regional level and global level, due to the diversity of the topics under discussion and the high level of participation, the event being organized annually by the ministry of foreign affairs of Turkey, under the patronage of the president of the Republic of Turkey.