Romanian ForMin Teodor Baconschi met Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantin Grishenko on Thursday in Kiev

Ukraine is closely following the evolution of the anti-ballistic system in Europe and does not want the project to raise controversies among the states in the region, said Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantin Grishenko on Thursday in Kiev, during a press conference held together with his Romanian counterpart Teodor Baconschi. 'We do not want this project to trace a divergent line between two neighbouring countries and among the countries in the region,' said the Ukrainian minister. 

The Romanian Chief Diplomat restated that the Romanian-American agreement on the anti-ballistic shield signed in Washington in September represents Romania's contribution to the future defence mechanism developed within the NATO and that the project is strictly defensive. 

'We signed this Romanian-American agreement as a contribution to the future anti-missile system developed within the NATO. It is about a strictly defensive system we discussed with our NATO partners and our partners in the region. We are positive that the NATO-Russia, the EU-Russia dialogue and the US-Russia dialogue will lead to the clarification of the political climate and to the trust that this system is strictly for the protection of the allied territory,' Baconschi said. 

'At bilateral level, we are totally open for our military experts to discuss in total transparency to see how Ukraine is interested in this project,' added the Romanian Chief Diplomat. 

The Moscow authorities systematically demanded 'written guarantees' that the shield will not be used against Russia. In their turn, the Ukrainian authorities, a state between Russia and Romania, always said they are only interested in a system including Russia as well, Agerpres correspondent informs.
Baconschi also said that the Romanian and Ukrainian sides decided to strengthen their cooperation in the European Union's Strategy for the Danube Region and to carry out trilateral trans-border cooperation projects with European funding, among Romania, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

This is the first visit of Minister Baconschi in Kiev, after the one paid by former Romanian chief diplomat Cristian Diaconescu in January 2009. The tone of the statements the two ministers made was a warm one, both of them voicing their being in favour of the political dialogue and economic cooperation strengthening between Romania and Ukraine.

At the same time, the Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister gave guarantees that the Romanian side would make all efforts for modernizing and completing as soon as possible the bilateral judicial framework. 
Romania and Ukraine in Kiev, on Thursday, signed the Cooperation Agreement between Romania's Ministry of Justice and Ukraine's Ministry of Justice and the Collaboration Protocol between MAE and the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine in the field of European integration.'I am convinced that the protocol signed today concerning the European integration of our country is an important document in the bilateral relations,' Konstantin Griscenko said. 
Inquired about the bones of contention between the two countries, such as building the Bystroye Channel, of which Romania does not approve, the Romanian Chief Diplomat said the two parties would be able to find solution just through political dialogue. 

'The will to cooperate and to reach reasonable solutions is essential, either related to Bystroye, or to minorities, Krivoy Rog or any other topic,' Teodor Baconschi pointed out. 

'It is fundamental that both parties should display a political desire to enter a stage of getting the relation back to normal and of developing it to the common benefit of the two societies and states,' concluded the Romanian Chief Diplomat. 
During his visit to Kiev, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi extended an invitation to his Ukrainian counterpart Konstantin Grishenko to visit Bucharest in 2012 to initiate annual discussions between the two countries at the level of chief diplomats.

As regards the possibility of a meeting between the two presidents, the Romanian Chief Diplomat has not set a date. 'Our efforts will lay the foundations of a high level political dialogue the moment there is enough substance for this dialogue to take place,' Teodor Baconschi said. 




Source: Actmedia Online