Bogdan Aurescu: Ukraine must be supported to win the war #Davos

Ukraine must be supported to win the war - claims, in Davos, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu.

Present today at the debate entitled "A new Helsinki for the whole world", the head of Romanian diplomacy listed the multiple crises that Europe has gone through in recent years and appreciated that the war in Ukraine also created opportunities.

Bogdan Aurescu: I would say that there are opportunities and positive developments following this crisis caused by the war. Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova obtained the status of candidate countries for the European Union. Who would have imagined this before the war? Then Finland and Sweden started the process of joining NATO. Again, who would have imagined? Then we took very important decisions to strengthen our security, deterrence and defense posture on the eastern flank at the Madrid summit. As far as Romania is concerned, we have almost 5.000 allied soldiers on our territory and thus we are strengthening our security in the Black Sea region. We increased defense spending from 2 to 2.5% of the Gross Domestic Product. We have also accelerated steps to eliminate dependence on Russia for energy, and the list goes on.

At the 53rd edition of the World Economic Forum held in the Swiss resort of Davos, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had meetings with representatives of the business environment, the discussions mainly aimed at the development of the energy sector in Romania.

Translated by: Radu Matei