President meets Romania leader

Victor Yushchenko has met with Romania’s President Traian Basescu for talks in the city of Sighetu Marmatiei, according to the President`s press-office.

The two leaders spoke about regional and European issues, especially how to boost ties between Ukraine and Romania.

The Ukrainian President told a press conference after the talks, “Our relationship is based on European ideas and Ukraine’s aspiration to become a full-fledged member of the European Union and NATO.” 

Mr. Yushchenko said they had formulated procedure rules for the Ukraine-Romania Presidential Commission, which will convene during his visit to Romania. The Commission will also hold a round table on border cooperation, involving local officials from border areas of the two countries.

The President said they had also agreed to liberalize visa rules.

“Ukraine will impose no visa requirements on the citizens of Romania as EU citizens, while Romania will not charge for its visas for Ukrainians,” he said.

The leaders also agreed to jointly patrol the border and build more border stations between Ukraine and Romania.

Mr. Yushchenko said Ukrainian businessmen wanted to privatize Romania’s Daewoo Automobile Romania and take part in the NABUCCO gas pipeline project.

Mr. Basescu said Romania wanted to be Ukraine’s partner on its way to Europe: “The first thing we must do is to make Romania a bridge between Ukraine and the European Union.”

He added that our country’s good relations with the EU and NATO were within Romania’s interests.

The Romanian leader promised that the border of his country, which has recently become a border between Ukraine and the European Union, would not be a “line of isolation, but an open border for the citizens of Ukraine.”

This has been Victor Yushchenko’s fifth meeting with Traian Basescu in the past two years.