Following a meeting in Bucharest, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of Romania Klaus Iohannis signed a Joint Declaration.
The signing followed bilateral talks between delegations chaired by the leaders of Ukraine and Romania.
"We have just signed a bilateral declaration that sets out the key points of our cooperation - security, in particular in the Black Sea region, support for our Peace Formula, and the expansion of our economic and logistics cooperation," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a meeting with media representatives following talks with Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest.
As noted by the President of Ukraine, the document also reflects the issues of transport connectivity, simplification of border crossing procedures, opening of new Ukrainian-Romanian border crossing points and approaches of the parties in cooperation with national communities.
Separately, in the Joint Declaration, the presidents stated their shared vision of relations between Ukraine and Romania as a strategic partnership based on the principles of good neighborliness, common democratic values, and respect for international law.
"We have decided to build a strategic partnership between Ukraine and Romania and have asked our teams to begin working on this, without delay," the document says.
For his part, the Romanian President noted that the leaders of the two countries had begun a concrete process of bringing relations between Ukraine and Romania to the level of strategic partnership, and the signed document outlines the fundamental framework for further cooperation between the two countries.
"Today we are focused on helping Ukraine win the war. But as neighbors and partners, we have a duty and obligation to look at our relations in the long term," Klaus Iohannis emphasized.
In the Joint Declaration, the presidents strongly condemned the ongoing war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and agreed on the need to continue to assist Ukraine for as long as it is necessary. In addition, the parties expressed full support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula, noted Romania's interest in engaging in the implementation of a number of points of the Formula, and called on all states to back the implementation of this initiative.
In the document, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Klaus Iohannis noted their readiness to deepen cooperation to enhance security in the Black Sea region, supported efforts to double the volume of transit through Romania to 4 million tons per month, and agreed to maintain coordination on the transit of Ukrainian grain through Romania.
The presidents agreed on the priority of training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s at a training center in Romania.
The parties also emphasized the need to bring to justice all those responsible for the crime of aggression in Ukraine and stated that sanctions against the Russian Federation should be preserved and intensified. They also emphasized the importance of joint efforts to counter Russian disinformation and propaganda.
In addition, the presidents emphasized the importance of Romania's participation in the implementation of projects to rebuild Ukraine. Romania's firm support for Ukraine's progress toward EU membership was declared, including the need to make a political decision by the end of 2023 to open negotiations on EU accession for Ukraine and Moldova.
In addition, the heads of state expressed support for Ukraine's integration into NATO and praised Romania's readiness to start negotiations on a bilateral security agreement in the framework of the G7 Joint Declaration.
