we are strong and can ensure security

President Klaus Iohannis told, on Wednesday, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that his visit and the intense Romanian-German contacts of the last period highlight the “privileged, with strategic valences” character of the relations between the two countries.

“We have a consistent political dialogue on a bilateral and European level, a solid economic cooperation and strong interpersonal ties, thanks to the Romanian community in Germany and the German minority in Romania. As I said before, these communities represent the living bridge between our societies, and their contribution to the development of the Romanian-German relationship is extremely important culturally, socially, economically and beyond. Germany has been, for many years, the first commercial partner of Romania, last year registering bilateral exchanges of over 40 billion euros. Over 25,000 companies with German participation and over 5.5 billion euros in capital contribution make Germany the second largest investor in the Romanian economy. I welcome the fact that Mr. President Steinmeier is also accompanied in Romania by a delegation of businessmen and I am glad that together with the Romanian authorities they will tackle new projects for the development of Romanian-German economic and sectoral cooperation, adapted not only to the current geopolitical reality, but also that of the economy of the future, marked by the digital transformation and the green transition”, declared Iohannis.

The President wanted to reconfirm, together with Steinmeier, the common interest in intensifying the excellent relations between the two countries, both bilaterally and within the European Union and NATO: “Only together will we be able to strengthen European unity in these troubled times, marked by Russian aggression in Ukraine, geopolitical changes and the consequences of the multiple crises of the past years”.

“Today, together with Mr. President Steinmeier, I analyzed the security situation in the Black Sea region. We evaluated the threats and concluded that together – Romania, Germany and the other NATO allies – we are strong and can ensure the security of our countries. In this context, I thanked Mr. President for Germany’s support for the consolidation of NATO’s Eastern Flank and for participating in the allied structures in Romania. We decided to intensify our collaboration within the European Union and NATO, in order to face the current challenges, not only those in terms of security, but also those in economic and social terms. During our dialogue, we highlighted the multidimensional support given to Ukraine by the two states and we also discussed the major difficulties that the Republic of Moldova is currently facing, in the context of the war. We share similar visions regarding the need to mobilize active and strong support for Chisinau, including at the level of the European Union, in order to strengthen the resilience of this country in the face of the complex challenges it faces”, added Iohannis.

According to him, the European Union enlargement policy was also addressed during the discussions, resulting in the joint support of Romania and Germany for the advancement of the process both regarding the Western Balkans and our Eastern Partners: “We emphasized during the discussions on Romania’s firm support for the advancement of the European path of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, as candidate states for accession. I also had an exchange of views with Mr. President Steinmeier regarding the status of the projects within the Three Seas Initiative and I presented the priorities and objectives of the Summit that I will host in Bucharest in September, followed by the Initiative’s Business Forum” .

Last but not least, the two also discussed the subject of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area. Iohannis conveyed to Steinmeier his appreciation for Germany’s firm and active support: “I hope that through our efforts to support the common European effort to strengthen internal security and the protection of the external borders of the European Union, we will succeed in finalizing Romania’s accession to Schengen, because our place, without a doubt, is in Schengen”.