Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu took part in the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM. The event was held in New York in connection with the holding of the GUAM Chairmanship-in-Office by the Republic of Moldova. After years of negotiations, there were signed two important documents for supporting the cooperation relations in the economic and social sectors between the four GUAM member states. These are the protocol on the rules of determining the country of origin of the goods and the GUAM Convention on the provision of mutual assistance in consular matters, IPN reports.

With Foreign Affairs Ministers Jeyhun Bayramov, Ilia Darchiashvili and Dmytro Kuleba, the Moldovan official discussed a number of topical subjects concerning the developments in the region related to Russia’s war against Ukraine and analyzed the methods of ensuring the necessary support through the agency of GUAM.

“We agreed on the necessity of strengthening the organization by extending the cooperation processes between the member states. I firmly asserted that Moldova sees the development potential of the Organization, the main goal being to develop sector cooperation. In this regard, the efforts of Moldova as the chair continue to be aimed at exploring the opportunities for implementing transport, energy resilience and infrastructure development projects,” said Nicu Popescu, being quoted in a press release.

During the first workay in the high-level segment of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Minister Nicu Popescu had meetings with a number of officials.



With the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal João Gomes Cravinho, Nicu Popescu discussed the mutual interest in having more intense Moldova-Portugal cooperation. Being a state affected by the consequences of the war on the border, the officials spoke about different methods by which the Republic of Moldova can be further supported, both on the path of reforms and in the accession to the European Union.

“I also underlined that the community of Moldovans who settled in Portugal is an important factor that contributes to the rapprochement between our countries. These Moldovans, owing to the favorable conditions offered by the local authorities, successfully integrated into Portuguese society. I agreed with the minister to work together for the benefit of concrete projects for our compatriots in Portugal,” noted the official.



The program of meetings continued with a discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, who is a supporter of the reformation and modernization path of the Republic of Moldova. “I thanked Latvia for close cooperation in managing the Ukrainian refugee crisis following the unjust war waged by Russia on Ukraine and for the financial assistance offered under the Regional Refugee Response Plan to our country. Together with Mister Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, we spoke in favor of the enhancement of economic diplomacy between our countries, including by developing projects to diversify the energy sources with the involvement of the Latvian partners,” stated Deputy Premier Popescu.



In New York, Nicu Popescu also had a discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus Ioannis Kasoulides in a bid to reinvigorate the Moldovan-Cypriot diplomatic dialogue, raising the main topical items from the bilateral and European agendas and the impact of the Ukraine war on the Republic of Moldova. “I welcomed my Cypriot counterpart’s support for our proposal to extend the exchange of good practices in the field of European integration following the obtaining by our country of the EU candidate status,” noted Nicu Popescu.



In the meeting with his Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod, the officials discussed the steps that the Republic of Moldova takes on its road to the EU, the utility of the Danish assistance in the process of transforming the Republic of Moldova and the interest in extending economic cooperation, including by attracting businessmen from Denmark. “I emphasized our strategic interest in Danish expertise in renewable energy. The regional situation caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine and the energy crisis as a consequence of this are among the main concerns of the authorities and concrete measures need to be taken to build energy resilience,” said Nicu Popescu.



At the UN, the Republic of Moldova and Romania are not only nearby, but also together, close to each other, wrote Nicu Popescu, noting he was glad to see again his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu. “Together with our teams in New York and in the capital cities, we take part in the most important diplomatic week. In a world with multiple challenges, multilateralism matters as never before,” said the official.