Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Sunday took part on Tunis in an international solidarity march against terror, where he delivered a strong message of condemnation of terror as well as of support for the Tunisian authorities’ efforts to fight against terror.
‘The tragic attack at the Bardo Museum has once again brought to public attention the stringent need for as close and as efficient international cooperation as possible to fight against terror in all forms and shapes. I have submitted for consideration the initiative to create a new juridical instrument, namely an international court to prosecute terror crime. I am convinced that international law can efficiently contribute to the efforts to annihilate terror,’ Aurescu is quoted as having said in a press release issued by Romania’s Foreign Ministry (MAE) on Sunday.
Part of his visit to Tunisia, Aurescu met his Tunisian counterpart Taieb Baccouche, to whom he voiced the full solidarity of the Romanian people with the Tunisian people in the face of terror and presented Romania’s initiative to have an international terror court created, an idea that was welcomed by the Tunisian official.
He also discussed a schedule of bilateral meetings, extending an invitation to his Tunisian counterpart to visit Bucharest this year, an invitation that was accepted.
The two foreign ministers agreed that boosting trade between Romania and Tunisia, which in 2014 was standing at nearly 315 million euros, as well as educational exchanges is necessary. Aurescu voiced Romania’s full readiness to provide support to Tunisia in Tunisia’s transition to a democracy.
Aurescu also met Chairman of the Tunisian Parliament and Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi. He voiced the Romanian people’s full solidarity with the Tunisian people in these moments. The Tunisian president thanked Aurescu for the solidarity gesture, which he says matters a lot to the bilateral relationship.
Taking part in the march led by Tunisia’s President Caid Essebsi were many political personalities of the European Union and the Arab world, members of the Tunisian government, parliament as well as the national leaders of Tunisian parties.
On the sidelines of the event, Aurescu had a conversation with Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, who voiced his support for the project of an international criminal court to prosecute terror, with the two ministers agreeing on jurist experts working together on the court concept.
Aurescu took the trip to Tunis accompanied by his Dutch counterpart, who made a short visit to Bucharest on March 28.
The Tunis solidarity march was organsied by the Tunisian Parliamewnt in the wake of a March 18, 2015 attacks at the Bardo Museum.
