The COVID-19 pandemic period has been "perhaps the most difficult to the Romanian diplomacy since 1989," Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the opening on Monday of the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy (RADR).

"I can say without hesitation, this period has perhaps been the most difficult to the Romanian diplomacy since 1989," said the head of the Romanian diplomacy.

He said that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foreign Ministry had to adjust.

"It was a period in which we had to adapt from all points of view, to make efforts at a very intense pace and to solve problems that we had not faced to such an extent, from a typological point of view or in terms of quantity. It has been a period and, unfortunately, it continues that has determined the more or less acute outlining of new modes of action, challenges and trends in international affairs along with the acceleration or favouring of pre-existing ones. All this has to be carefully looked into by the Romanian diplomacy in order to extract lessons to be learned," said Aurescu.

He added that he requested the drafting of a crisis response manual based on the lessons learned in the pandemic. Aurescu also spoke about the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, repatriation and consular assistance for Romanians abroad.

"We have continuously managed, sometimes day and night, borderline situations, emergencies and complex cases. From the beginning of the crisis, MAE has directly contributed to the repatriation efforts of over 12,500 Romanians abroad," Aurescu said.

He added that via MAE 1,800 Romanian workers on cruise or merchant ships were supported to return home, and over 11,000 Romanian nationals were extended diplomatic assistance.

The Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy this year takes place virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Monday to Wednesday. Guests of the event are the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi; Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba; Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha; Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez Laya; High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Part of RADR, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana will send a video message.

"This series of guests is not accidental at all. On the contrary, it fully reflects the comprehensive orientation of Romania's foreign policy, both at European level and in the neighbourhood, in extra-European spaces and on a multilateral plan," said Aurescu. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)