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President Basescu was received by Turkey's President Abdullah Gul in Ankara
Romania backs without reservation Turkey's accession to the European Union, President Traian Basescu said on Wednesday in Ankara, pointing out that Romania has a particular interest in this respect.
'I have assured Mr. Gul that Romania vows unreserved support for the success of Turkey's EU accession negotiations and we believe that the time is ripe for this process to be speeded up,' President Basescu said at a joint press conference with Turkey's President Abdullah Gul.
Traian Basescu added that Romania has a particular interest in Turkey becoming a EU member state.
'We want the Balkans, Turkey, Black Sea riparian states, become EU member states, we want us to have the same values and interests in the region,' Basescu said.
He pointed out that Romania vows political support for Turkey's accession to the EU.
'We can only give our political support, and when it comes to us, the Romanian state supports inside the EU Turkey's bid. We express our position inside the European Council, the European Parliament and inside the Council of the European Union. For example, in 2013 Romania backed without reservation on all levels the resumption of Turkey's membership talks. In addition, I can tell you that we also support within the EU the opening of as many negotiation chapters as possible and there is one more important objective for us, but I am convinced that for Turkey too, to conclude the negotiations,' said the Romanian head of state.
In his opinion, there are various positions of the EU member states on Turkey's accession to the EU, but 'before a final position is reached, the negotiation talks must come to an end.'
In his turn, Turkish President Abdullah Gul thanked Romania for the support granted in his country's EU membership process. 'We hope that Romania will continue giving its backing also from now on,' said the Turkish president.
President Traian Basescu is paying a state visit to Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday.
Basescu: We hope to see Romania-Turkey trade at 10 billion dollars
President Traian Basescu on Wednesday said that the volume of trade between Romania and Turkey stands at five billion dollars, and he expressed hope to see it reach 10 billion dollars.
'Thank you for your invitation to visit Turkey. I maintain that I was not only honoured, but also pleased to be in Ankara again or anywhere in Turkey. My visit has a single purpose - to consolidate and develop bilateral relations. We have excellent political and economic relations, and their development is, I think, equally important for both countries,' Traian Basescu said at a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Basescu thanked the Turkish business community for its investments in Romania.
'Our commercial exchanges stand at approximately five billion dollars, and we hope they will soon reach 10 billion dollars,' the Romanian head of state declared.
He pointed out that Romania and Turkey are located on the southeastern flank of NATO, and they are developing together missile defence systems to protect Europe.
'During the last years, a remarkable consolidation of the relations between Romania and Turkey has concerned the cooperation in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, and trafficking in human beings. We will keep consolidating our cooperation in fighting these threats to the national security of Turkey and Romania,' president Basescu stressed.
He mentioned that he has also discussed with his Turkish counterpart the cooperation potential for the technical staff training and for the maintenance of F16 aircrafts to be commissioned to the Romanian Air Force.
Romania has political stability; economy to grow 3-4 pct in 2014 (President Basescu)
Visiting Romanian President Traian Basescu said here on Wednesday the Romanian economy will grow some 3 to 4 percent in 2014, above the International Monetary Fund projections.
'Being in Ankara, I am convinced there aren't many novelties I can tell you, because you are not far from home, but I will state my projection for Romania, my conviction is that Romania has nearly-consolidated macro-economic situation. Nobody knows how the times to come will look like, but as the development in Europe can be seen, I think Romania can cope with the period ahead, which should be a period of economic growth. I've also seen the IMF projections and this year I've been more optimistic than the Fund was in 2013. I think in 2014 we will also have better growth than the one forecast by the Fund, i.e. in my opinion we will have growth at between 3 and 4 percent, which will enable us to continue the fiscal consolidation', Basescu told a meeting with the representatives for the Romanian community based in Turkey.
He stressed the fact Romania managed to cut the budget deficit as well as the current account gap gives reasons for satisfaction.
'This means the exports have grown enough so as to cover nearly all imports', he added.
The Romanian leader, who is paying a state visit to Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday underscored that minus 1 percent current account deficit has been reached from minus 14 percent.
'This means the investments made in the last five, six or seven years have begun becoming more performing, that means we are exporting. I think we will exceed 50 billion euros in exports in 2013. We will see the figure by about mid-February, when the calculations are completed. We become a substantial EU country', he said.
Basescu said that Romanian shipments, according to the statistic figures, amounted to 20 billion euros in 2004 and now they stand at 50 billion euros, following the investments having been made over those years.
'We make exports to one of the most high-demanding markets in the world, the Euro zone, 9 billion euros of which we ship to Germany', he announced.
The president spoke of the motorways being built in Romania, about which he said ‘we are moving forward more slowly'.
'Everybody looks at the motorways, but nobody sees that Romania has, for 20 years, been putting money into the rehabilitation of the existing highways, there are 14,000 kilometres of highways having been rehabilitated', he stressed.
The head of state underscored Romania has economic stability as well as growth.
'We have such a stable Government, that we cannot move it even an inch. (It has) 70 percent, close to 80 percent in Parliament. Therefore, Romania has political stability, it has growth more than other EU countries. We are not perfect', Basescu said.