Bucharest, Sep 20 /Agerpres/ - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had on Monday, during the first day of the high-level segment of the 76th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), a meeting with the President of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, and on this occasion there was an exchange of views on the priorities of the political agenda of the current session of the General Assembly.

According to a Foreign Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES, the head of Romanian diplomacy conveyed to President Abdulla Shahid Romania's support in fulfilling the priorities of his mandate and stressed that, from the perspective of its national interests, Romania is committed to promoting and consolidating effective multilateralism and international order based on rules, focused on the UN.

At the same time, the Romanian Minister assured that Romania supports the multilateral approach in the context of efforts to overcome the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and advocates for international cooperation as part of the solution, with emphasis on strengthening the resilience of states and societies.

In this context, Aurescu underlined the support provided by Romania for the efforts to fight the pandemic, both at multilateral level by supporting the COVAX platform, and by the donations of vaccines made to states in the region, respectively from other geographical areas.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also evoked Romania's efforts, as the presidency of the Community of Democracies / CoD (2019-2022), to support the strengthening of the resilience of democracies - this being the theme of the 10th ministerial meeting of the CoD, which will be chaired by the Romanian Foreign Minister in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, on September 22.

On this occasion, he thanked the President of the General Assembly for agreeing to address a message at the opening of the ministerial meeting.

The President of the UN General Assembly thanked the Romanian official for Romania's support in meeting the objectives on the agenda of the current session of the General Assembly, appreciating Romania's active involvement in supporting effective multilateralism.

In this context, he indicated that he will participate with interest in the opening of the 10th CoD Ministerial Conference, which will be hosted by the Romanian Minister on September 22, in New York, in virtual format, on the sidelines of the high-level week of the UN General Assembly.

In this context, he expressed appreciation for the results of the Romanian presidency of the CoD, as well as for his contribution within the RDI.

The two senior officials also discussed the most effective ways to implement gender balance in national and UN institutions, respectively for the promotion of young people, the Romanian Foreign Minister expressing support for the initiatives of the President of the General Assembly and presenting the good results obtained in this respect at the level of the MAE. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi)