Turkiye's President - invited on official state visit to Romania next year 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Toiu, conveyed, on Friday, to her Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, an official invitation from President Nicusor Dan for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pay an official state visit to Romania during the next year.Turkiye remains Romania's main trading partner outside the European Union and the first extra-community destination for Romanian exports, stated Oana Toiu, who is visiting Ankara, during a joint press conference with Hakan Fidan."We appreciated, very importantly during this period, Turkiye's support regarding Romania's accession to the OECD. We reiterated the progress we have made in this direction and the Government's objective to complete this process at the beginning of 2026. We still have a number of milestones where we have already made the necessary reforms and we rely on Turkiye's support as before," said the head of Romanian diplomacy, after talks with the Turkish Foreign Minister.According to her, the upward dynamics in political and economic terms is linked to the "strong" human connection between the two nations. "We greatly appreciate the Turkish and Tatar communities in Romania, remarkable models of integration. Together with the Romanian community in Turkey, they have a key role in strengthening the ties between our countries," she said.Oana Toiu also highlighted cooperation in the security field. "I underlined Romania's interest in intensifying cooperation with Turkey and Bulgaria, both within NATO and at regional level, to strengthen NATO's position on the Eastern Flank and protect the security of the Black Sea. Collaboration within the Naval Mine Countermeasures Group is already a success, an internationally recognized success of our cooperation and a model that can truly be extended to other areas and is becoming a good practice that other countries are also looking at carefully", she pointed out.Turkey remains a candidate state and a key partner of the EU in essential areas of collaboration, the Romanian Foreign Minister added.The recent developments in the Middle East were also on the agenda of the discussions."I welcomed the agreement on the ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. I appreciated the essential role played by Turkiye, together with the US, Qatar and Egypt, in achieving this progress. I conveyed to my counterpart Romania's gratitude for Turkiye's involvement in the release of all the remaining hostages, including an Israeli citizen of Romanian origin," Toiu mentioned.At this stage, she indicated, it is necessary to intensify diplomatic efforts, as well as humanitarian assistance for Gaza and to unblock any issues that are currently obstacles to this access."Romania continues to actively contribute to this effort from the humanitarian perspective of flights for children who need to have access to oncological treatment. The most recent flight took place recently with patients who remained in Romania, and some of them were supported to reach the Netherlands in our partnership with this country", detailed Oana Toiu.She reiterated Romania's commitment to supporting a just and lasting peace, based on the solution of the two states, Israel and Palestine, living together in peace and security.During her visit to Ankara, Minister Oana Toiu also participated in the debate "Partners in Resilience: Advancing Cooperation between Romania and Turkiye", organized by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkiye (TEPAV) in collaboration with the German Marshall Fund and dedicated to the prospects for the development of Romanian-Turkish relations on a bilateral level and on the regional dimension of cooperation in the Black Sea region.The discussions focused on the following topics: connectivity and the need to continue expanding cooperation in strategic sectors such as energy, renewable sources and transport; success stories in joint production and opportunities to advance industrial cooperation, including with an emphasis on defense; maritime security, including joint efforts in mine clearance, cooperation as allies and promising directions of work resulting from the EU strategy for the Black Sea region.On Thursday evening, Oana Toiu met in Istanbul with members of the Romanian community in the area.