On Tuesday, March 31, First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrii Parubii met with President of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Laszlo Borbely.
Parubii expressed gratitude to Romanian colleagues for their support to Ukraine at these difficult times. “We deeply respect friends, who lend their shoulder to use at these tough times,” he said.
Parubii noted that these are the times of “great challenges and reforms” for Ukraine. “We have to combat corruption, reform judicial system, the system of local governing, and at the same time, work on reforms in the Armed Forces and law enforcement bodies,” he said. He added that the major task is still the ensuring security of the country. “Ukraine requires the support of the civilized world in this issue,” he said.
Parubii noted that the military conflict in the east of Ukraine is not only a Ukraine-Russia confrontation. “Putin has affronted the whole civilized world. So, we can either stop him together or he would proceed,” Parubii said.
The President of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies said that Romania supports territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. He expressed the hope that the Minsk agreements would be implemented and stressed that “no one is interested in tension.” Borbely also expressed readiness of his country to support Ukraine in peaceful returning of the territory of Crimea.
Borbely reminded that the delegation he heads had received confirmation to signature of the agreement on minor border traffic. "The agreement is important for the people living in frontier zones, thus, I hope that the Verkhovna Rada will ratify it," he said.
In turn, Parubii expressed confidence that the agreement between Ukraine and Romania on minor border traffic will be ratified at the Verkhovna Rada as soon as possible.
Borbely also called for gradual settlement of issues in humanitarian and cultural sectors of activity of Romanian communities in Ukraine via bilateral dialogue.
The parties stressed the necessity for intensification of bilateral cooperation, as well as for the development of parliamentary element of the country’s relations. At that Parubii noted that the Verkhovna Rada leadership will do its best to deepen cooperation between Ukraine and Romania, in particular, at the level of the parliaments.