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ForMin Aurescu, at ministerial meeting of OECD Council in Paris
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, participated on Wednesday in the annual ministerial meeting of the Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which took place at the headquarters of the Organization in Paris, under the title "Securing A Resilient Future: Shared Values And Global Partnerships''.
In the session dedicated to Ukraine, held with the participation of the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in virtual format, Minister Bogdan Aurescu reiterated Romania's commitment to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people, by providing multidimensional support, as well as the decision to continue providing this support as long as necessary.
"Thus, the head of Romanian diplomacy referred to the welcoming, by Romania, of over 4.4 million refugees from Ukraine, to our country's humanitarian efforts, but also to the support provided by Romania to maintain the viability of Ukraine's economy under conditions of war, including the facilitation of the transit of over 18.1 million tonnes of grains, and Romania's efforts to strengthen the interconnection with Ukraine, on all relevant components, including in the fields of transport and energy," the press release states.
"In his intervention, the head of Romanian diplomacy showed that, against the backdrop of a fragile economic outlook, reducing gender disparities on the labor market by empowering women's participation represents an important catalytic factor, both for reducing the impact of the consequences of these crises, and for stimulating productivity growth. He showed, in this context the fact that, in the Romanian Foreign Ministry, while almost 50% of the total employees in the Central Department and Foreign Service are women, of the total number of people who hold management positions at the level of the Central Department, women represent 48%. In the Foreign Service, women represent a percentage of almost 35% of the total number of heads of missions. He also highlighted the actions taken by Romania to ensure that economic opportunities bring benefits to all, in an inclusive manner," the release reads.
On the sidelines of the OECD meeting, Minister Aurescu had a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization, Mathias Cormann, on which occasion he showed that Romania is ready to implement the OECD recommendations and use the accession process as an incentive for continuing reforms and modernization.
According to a Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) press release, the meeting took place on the occasion of the participation of the head of Romanian diplomacy in the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (OECD MCM), held at the OECD headquarters in Paris, between 7 and 8 June 2023.
This is the second meeting at ministerial level of the OECD Council in which Romania participates as a candidate country, after the decision to grant this status, taken by the OECD Council on 25 January 2022.
"Within the meeting, the head of the Romanian diplomacy reiterated the strategic nature of Romania's objective of joining the OECD, benefiting from the broad support of Romanian political forces and society, as well as the solid profile of Romania's candidacy and the involvement of our country, as a like-minded partner, in activities and projects of common interest with the OECD. He showed that Romania is ready to implement the OECD recommendations and to use the accession process as an incentive for further reform and modernization," the press release showed.
Minister Aurescu also thanked the OECD Secretary-General for his support to Romania's candidacy, including through dialogue with the OECD Secretariat at all levels, underscoring the added value of Romania's expertise within the Organisation.
Thus, the head of the Romanian diplomacy highlighted the ways in which Romania currently participates in the structures and working groups within the OECD, as well as the stage of Romania's accession process to the Organization, giving assurances regarding the active involvement in this process of all responsible structures at the Government level.
"In this context, minister Aurescu highlighted Romania's recent contribution, including financial, to the establishment of the OECD Office dedicated to Ukraine, as well as our country's commitment to continue to support the OECD programmes aimed at providing support to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. He welcomed the fact that, as a result of Romania's requests expressed within the dialogue with the OECD Secretariat in the past months, the Organisation has increased its interaction with the Republic of Moldova and steps have been taken to provide expertise to this country. Equally, he has proposed that Romania's accession process be used to propagate the OECD values at regional level," the quoted source mentioned.
Moreover, the Romanian minister encouraged OECD-level representation at the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Business Forum, which shall be hosted by our country in early September 2023, underscoring the relevance of the OECD's contribution to the Initiative, in particular by providing future expertise in view of strengthening the economic resilience of the 3SI region.
In his turn, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann reiterated the OECD Secretariat's support for Romania's accession to the Organisation, highlighting and expressing appreciation for the progress achieved by our country so far, as well as the positive prospects of future cooperation. He underscored that through its accession process, Romania contributes to strengthening the OECD standards and values at global and regional level.
"The two high officials discussed the current state of the accession process, highlighting the fact that Romania has already received questionnaires from 23 of the 26 sectoral committees of the Organisation, already having sent responses to 12 of them, as well as the fact that the assessment missions are already underway, being appreciated the level of interaction with the Organisation. Furthermore, the importance of rapid accession to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention was underscored, as the draft accession law, already passed by the Government, undergoes the parliamentary procedure for adoption," the press release also said.
The head of Romanian diplomacy had also brief bilateral meetings with Damien O'Connor, the minister for trade and export growth from New Zealand, and with the secretary of state for foreign affairs, Commonwealth and development of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, James Cleverly, as well as discussions with his counterparts from Latvia, Croatia and Spain.