State Secretary Ciamba: Turkey is key partner of Romania at political, strategic, economy level

Romania supports Turkey in its bid to join the European Union, as this state is a key partner of Romania at a political, strategic and economy level, the Foreign Ministry's State Secretary for European Affairs George Ciamba said during an official visit to Ankara, according to a release sent by the ministry on Tuesday. Ciamba had political consultations with Turkish Minister-designate for European Affairs Volkan Bozkir, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Naci Koru, Assistant Under Secretary of State for European Affairs at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Murat Salim Esenli and Under Secretary of State at the European Affairs Ministry, Rauf Engin Soysal. "The visit was part of the framework offered by the Strategic Partnership forged by Romania and Turkey and was aimed at keeping the dynamic of the political consultations between Bucharest and Ankara on matters of interest for the two countries with a view to consolidating the bilateral cooperation", the Foreign Ministry said. "The consultations offered the opportunity of a detailed view swap and of analyzing the priorities on the bilateral, regional and international agenda. Priority attention was given to the excellent bilateral relations of Romania and Turkey, with emphasis on the phase in the political-diplomatic dialogue, on the economic and sectorial cooperation", the release said. According to it, the Romanian official stressed Turkey is the top commercial partner of Romania outside the European Union and the fifth-biggest by the overall Romanian international exchanges. Also approached were "concrete economic projects and ways to boost their materialization", with the cooperation on energy being tackled in this context. "The agenda of the talks included such topics as the EU-Turkey relations, the regional cooperation and the current migration crisis. State Secretary Ciamba reiterated that Romania is consistent in granting Turkey support with a view to joining the European Union and encourages Turkey on its path to reforms and to aligning with the EU acquis", the ministry said. On the migration crisis, the Romanian official highlighted "the especially important" role of Turkey as a country hosting a very large number of refugees on its territory and playing a key role in solving this crisis. "The two sides also swapped views of the situation in the Eastern Neighbourhood and stressed the common interest in strengthening the stability and economic progress made in the region. As regards the Republic of Moldova, the Romanian side reiterated the message of support for pursuing with the pro-European agenda. The talks also focused on the regional cooperation as part of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation (BSEC). As Romania is the BSEC chairman-in-office, Ciamba reaffirmed the interest in the common actions in the Black Sea area that target the promotion of regional cooperation, stability and increased security in Southeastern Europe", the release said. *** Turkey is Romania's largest non-EU economic partner, and the connections between the two countries, both maritime as well as air ones, are vital to our economies, Mihai Daraban, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR) told a Tuesday's meeting with Turkish businesspeople. "Turkish Airlines wishes to intensify its flights to Romania. We are in discussions for Turkish Airlines to intervene on those routes not covered by TAROM or by other Romanian operator. Maritime transport between Romania and Turkey is vital. There are, of course, restrictions arising from the Montreux Convention but I hope both we will find a bilateral solution with support also from the strategic partnership with the US so that Bosphorus become more relaxed for cargo transport and militarywise," said Mihai Daraban. The CCIR signed on Tuesday a protocol with the Association of Turkish Businesspeople in Romania (TIAD) within a business seminar on the business opportunities existing on the Romanian market for the Turkish business environment. CCIR Chairman Mihai Daraban and president of the Association of Turkish Businesspeople in Romania (TIAD), Murat Demiray reaffirmed their intention to increase the trade between the two countries. In 2014, Turkey continued to be the main extra-EU trading partner of Romania and the 5th in the total trading exchanges, the 4th export market respectively and the 9th import supplier, according to the data released by the Ministry of Economy. At the same time, Romania is an important trading partner of Turkey. According to Turkish statistics, in 2014, Romania was the 18th export market for Turkey and the 17th supplier of goods. Turkey ranks 5th as destination of Romanian exports (2014 and in H1 2015).