During his working visit, First Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Kornienko met with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament Marcel Colacu.
First of all, the First Vice-Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament thanked Romania for its active advocacy of military support for Ukraine and stressed the importance of deepening inter-parliamentary cooperation. He also stressed that Ukraine now holds its defense on three important fronts: military, diplomatic and economic.
"In the coming days, the European Commission, and later the European Council, will determine the status of Ukraine's candidate for EU membership. We are very grateful for the position of Romania, in particular the Parliament, in supporting this issue. If there is an opportunity to advocate for Ukraine, we will also be very grateful for that," said the First Vice Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament. He also thanked Romania for its active sanctions policy.
In addition, Oleksandr Kornienko said that work was underway to recognize the atrocities committed by the Russian Nazis as genocide of the Ukrainian people. In particular, the First Vice-Speaker asked the Romanian Parliament to consider adopting a statement: "Parliament is working systematically and appeals to many world organizations to stop Russia from being a member of various world organizations, including the UN Security Council."
"Ukraine's economic cooperation and integration with Romania is at a very high level, as Romania is one of Ukraine's main logistics hubs and partners," the First Vice-Speaker said. In addition, Oleksandr Kornienko noted that the issue of fuel access is now relevant for Ukraine.
Roxolana Pidlas, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, stressed that Russia had declared war against Ukraine and the whole world: “Russia is trying to start a mass famine and Ukraine and Romania are side by side to prevent this. We thank the Romanian Government for increasing the capacity of ports and channels to export and import products to and from Ukraine."
For his part, Marcel Cholacu stressed that Romania should take on the role of a regional hub to ensure the stability and development of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region: "The first step in this direction is the reconstruction of Ukraine." He also stressed that Ukraine needs to quickly organize a commercial, economic and humanitarian team to facilitate the reconstruction process.
Finally, Oleksandr Kornienko thanked Marcel Cholak for the shelter provided by Romania to many Ukrainian families and presented a picture of little Kharkiv resident Eva as a symbol of friendship between the peoples of Romania and Ukraine.
