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Prime Minister Victor Ponta attending the opening of the UN General Assembly debates
Prime Minister Victor Ponta attended, on Wednesday, the opening of the UN General Assembly debates. The head of the Romanian government will listen to the speech of US President Barack Obama, focused on forming an international coalition aimed at combating the attacks of the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State.
The Prime Minister announced last week that Romania supports the international coalition that is forming for combating the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State, mentioning that our country will participate "with what is decided from a strategic and operational point of view" in the international effort made in this sense.
"From my discussions with the state institutions I can already publicly ascertain Romania's support for the international coalition that is being formed for combating terrorist organizations, the Islamic State. We are talking about Syria and Iraq, about an international effort in which Romania will participate with what is decided from a strategic and operational point of view, as it has done every time in the past years," said Ponta.
During the afternoon, the Romanian Prime Minister will attend a luncheon offered by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, while in the evening he will take part in a reception offered by the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
On Thursday morning, in New York, the Prime Minister is due to visit the headquarters of Romania's General Consulate, where he will meet representatives of the Romanian community, while later in the day he will deliver a speech to the plenary debate of the UN General Assembly.
Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Black Sea, topics of his Prime Minister informal dialogues
Prime Minister Victor Ponta declared that regional topics like the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Black Sea were among the topics of his informal dialogues with top officials at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
'In all the informal talks I had with the Turkish president, Mr. [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, in the few words I exchanged with President Obama - because I had a longer discussion with Mrs. [Assistant Secretary Victoria] Nuland, who covers our region for the US Department of State - and with the other European leaders I met at the lunch hosted by the [United Nations] Secretary General, of course the main problem for Romania is represented by the events in the region, on the future of [the Republic of] Moldova. I mentioned Moldova again, and I explained the importance of future of Ukraine, of the Black Sea, and what are Romania's perspectives,' Ponta told the Antena 3 TV station on Wednesday.
Ponta mentioned that the resulting message was that Romania is a safe country, owing to its status of NATO and European Union member.
'Otherwise, we saw what happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, we see what's happening in Syria and Iraq. (...) But this safety comes with some obligations. Romania's obligation is to permanently show the United States and the other members of NATO it's a firm country, a serious, stable country,' the prime minister added.
He also said that during his talks with other political leaders attending the UN General Assembly, he has underscored that the Republic of Moldova was the main topic of Romania's foreign policy.
'We're not doing what Russia did when it said, 'Crimea is ours,' and took it by force. No. We do what a democratic, civilized country does - we support Moldova to become more democratic, to have strong institutions and a better life for its citizens, and to integrate into the European Union. Well, Moldova's path to the EU, naturally and wholeheartedly cannot be other than through Romania,' Ponta explained.
He pointed out that the main topics of the UN General Assembly in New York were terrorism, the Ebola epidemic and the situation in Ukraine.