ForMin Melescanu at UN GA 73rd session's top level meetings

Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu is attending 25 September - 1 October, as member of Romania's delegation headed by President Klaus Iohannis, the general debates of the 73rd UN General Assembly due in New York, a Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) release informs. 

The participation of the Romanian delegation in the current session of the UN GA confirms the support given by our country to the multilateral diplomacy within the UN and the wish to consolidate Romania's contribution to the organisation's activities, by boosting bilateral collaboration with other UN member states included. One of the delegation's priorities to the current UN GA session is to further steps to promoting candidacy for Romania's election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council at the election due in June 2019, the MAE release adds. 

The minister's timeline includes his participation in a series of multilateral meetings under UN aegis or other international cooperation formats, as well as bilateral meetings with counterparts from other UN member states. 

Minister Teodor Melescanu will attend the reunion of the Foreign Affairs ministers of the EU countries, the transatlantic dinner organized by the US Secretary of state, the ministerial reunion staged by the EU on the crisis in Syria, and the ministerial meeting of the Central-European Initiative. 

A distinct chapter of the Foreign Affairs minister's schedule is dedicated to the regional issues. In context, Teodor Melescanu is to attend the four-party breakfast, alongside his Bulgarian, Croatian and Greek counterparts, wherein aspects related to the Western Balkans' developments will be tackled. In the same framework will be the exchange of opinions among the states with the Central European Initiative, during the working lunch organized by Croatia, President in Exercise of this cooperation format, as well as the meeting with his Hungarian counterpart. Special attention will be given to the future cooperation projects among the participating states, the MAE release further says. 

The topic of Romania's cooperation development with the Gulf area's states will be approached during the meeting of minister Melescanu with the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council and his counterparts of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The Romanian chief diplomat will plead for a broad capitalization of the economic cooperation opportunities between Romania and the said countries, starting from the Romanian economy's potential and the experience of the Gulf area's business milieus. 

The attention given by Romania to the Caspian Sea region is mirrored by the bilateral meetings of minister Melescanu with his counterparts of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran. 

The Foreign Affairs Minister will chair, according to the release, the meeting jointly staged with the Community of Democracies on "Youth and democratic resilience" in the perspective of taking over the presidency of this international cooperation format in September 2019. 

Within the Romanian diplomacy's Francophone dimension, minister Teodor Melescanu will be the host of a Francophone action on "The climate changes and security" with participation of his counterparts from the Francophone African countries and the working lunch offered to his homologues of the Asia-Pacific region. The Romanian chief diplomat will also attend the protocol action organized by the African Union's President for the promotion of the candidacy of Rwanda's Foreign Affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo to the OIF Secretary General. 

Considering that Romania holds in 2018 the chairmanship of the Committee for Peace Consolidation, the Foreign Affairs minister will chair the reunion of 1 October of this select UN body, with attributions in carrying out a durable peace in the post-conflict situations' countries. 

"From the bilateral contacts' viewpoint, it is worth mentioning the attention given to the bilateral meeting with small island countries with which Romania has recently established diplomatic ties: Antigua and Barbuda, Vanuatu and Palau. In the same attention area stays the signing by Teodor Melescanu and his counterparts of certain collaboration protocols between the Romanian MAE and the MAE of Azerbaijan, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Tajikistan and Antigua and Barbuda," the MAE release mentions. 

One of the objectives of the participation of Melescanu in the UN GA is also to carry out a dialogue with states with which Romania traditionally used to have good relations: Sri Lanka, Colombia, Palestine, the Cape Verde Republic, Andorra and Lesotho. 

"The presence in New York of minister Teodor Melescanu will allow the organization of meetings with representatives of the US-based Jewish organisations, traditional actions for the Romanian chief diplomat on the occasion of the UN GA. The Romanian dignitary will reassert on this occasion Romania's commitment to combating anti-Semitism, racism and extremism, as well as the promotion of the knowledge and the strengthening of the education in the Holocaust," the MAE release adds. 

Deputy Prime Minister for the Implementation of Romania's Strategic Partnerships Ana Birchall is also part of the Romanian delegation to the UN GA.