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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson makes unexpected short visit to Romania
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived to Bucharest on Wednesday evening, November 15, for an unexpected short visit. US official landed in Romania around 8.30 pm and was welcomed at the airport by Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu. He came from Asia, where he had a long tour, romania-insider.com informs.The high official spent the night in Bucharest, after a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi and the Army commander, general Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar on Wednesday, in the context of the humanitarian crisis which has the Rohingya minority at its core.
Tillerson doesn’t have an official agenda during his stay in Romania, according to the US Embassy to Bucharest. However, according to local Digi24 sources, he was expected to have a meeting with Romanian foreign affairs minister Teodor Melescanu during the evening. He is expected to leave Romania on Thursday.
This is the first visit an official of President Donald Trump’s administration makes in Romania. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis made an official visit to Washington earlier this year, where he had a meeting with trump at the White House. He was the first Eastern European leader Trump welcomed at the White House.
The US and Romania have a strategic partnership for cooperation in the security and economic areas. US troops are stationed in Romania at the Mihail Kogalniceanu and Deveselu military bases, the later hosting the US anti-missile defense system Aegis Ashore.
In October, a delegation of tens of US companies came to Bucharest for the Trade Winds 2017 business event. American companies are active in Romania especially in the energy, industry and IT sectors. US oil group ExxonMobil, which used to be managed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, runs the biggest offshore gas project in Romania, in partnership with local OMV Petrom.