Head of the MAE: All Romanian citizens in the Middle East are safe / Government meeting on Monday morning for repatriation plans

All Romanian citizens in the areas affected by the conflict in the Middle East are safe at the moment, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Ţoiu, said on Sunday evening.

“Our priority remains the safety of our citizens. We have this important information, especially for the families of Romanian citizens in the region, until this moment there is no incident that has been reported to our missions or to the authorities of the countries in the Middle East. From the information we have until this moment, all Romanian citizens are safe, the groups of children who traveled to the Middle East before this situation of increased insecurity are accompanied by adults and in direct connection with our consular teams, this remains our priority”, said Oana Ţoiu in a press briefing held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to Agerpres.

“We are resuming the call to Romanian citizens to register in the database in order to be able to maintain contact with them. Of course, we are in a context of increased anxiety, we recognize that, (…) we have allocated additional resources today both in the central call center and at the mission level, where possible, we will continue to do this in the coming days”, she added.

The head of Romanian diplomacy specified that she participated in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAE), convened by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, in which she discussed with the other ministers of the European Union about the recent developments in the Middle East.

“The situation in Israel and Iran remains extremely tense, the rocket fire continues at an increased intensity, this happened both during the night and throughout the day today. However, I reiterate this conclusion, which is very important: the citizens of Romania are safe, the countries in the region have managed to defend their airspace, all the citizens of Romania are currently, from the information we have, in safe accommodation and we have no indications on the basis of which to assume that this, the level your security is different in the coming days. Of course, in a region with a high risk and a significant degree of anxiety, it is difficult to anticipate the duration and intensity of hostilities in the coming days, but most of the EU member states mirror the approach we have in Romania, that of taking into account the recommendations of the countries in which our citizens are located. At this moment, the recommendation is to prioritize personal safety and, therefore, caution in a choose, including moving by land to the border crossing points”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Meeting at the Government tomorrow morning

Oana Ţoiu emphasized that the Romanian authorities – the ministries together with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and President Nicusor Dan – are analyzing plans to evacuate Romanian citizens.

She stated that on Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. there will be a meeting at the Government, presided over by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, in which the plans proposed by the crisis cell of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be discussed – together with the representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, as well as with the deputy prime ministers.

“However, we mention that it is very important to take into account the fact that developments in the region cannot be anticipated, which means that we will remain adherents of prioritizing the safety of Romanian citizens, so, depending on the recommendations of the respective countries, we will also present the evacuation plans later, when it will be possible, when the airspace will be reopened or when the transit to the countries that have open airspace is considered safe”, said Oana Ţoiu.