Bucharest, 13 April 2023

We, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Ministers of Defense of Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, met on 13 April 2023, in Bucharest, to discuss the security situation in our region and the prospects for further cooperation.

Our countries are bound together by history, by geography, and common vision of a peaceful and prosperous future. We recognize the benefits of developing stronger political, economic, infrastructure, security, defense and cultural links both for our countries and for the whole region.

As partners located in the Eastern part of the European continent, we share similar security concerns and have the same interest for a stable and secure wider Black Sea region. Russia’s brutal, illegal and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as continuation of aggression started by Russia against Ukraine in 2014 has caused suffering and destruction for millions, bringing war, once again, on the European continent.

In addition to military attacks on Ukraine, Russia continues to use a wide range of hybrid tactics meant to further intimidate Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and other countries in the region. We express our willingness to cooperate closely on fostering joint capacities for countering Russian propaganda and strengthening our societies’ resilience, including to disinformation.

We have reiterated our strong condemnation of these aggressive actions that represent an unprecedented threat in the last decades for our region, and for the Euro-Atlantic area. Russia’s war of aggression is a blatant violation of international law. We have condemned the aggressor and all those who are facilitating Russia’s war, including Belarus.

Our respect for the fundamental principles underpinning the international legal order - independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering. We underline our commitment to sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine within their internationally recognized borders extending to territorial waters.

The Black Sea remains an area of strategic importance for the security of the European continent and of the Euro-Atlantic area. We will continue to work together, as long as necessary, to support the right to choose freely one’s own foreign policy and alliances, to exercise legitimate self-defense, to build resilience and to ensure stability, security and prosperity in our area. The enlargement of the European Union as well as enhanced cooperation with NATO are pivotal in this respect, and we will further make every effort with a view to a continued strong European and Euro-Atlantic support for the region. In this context, we underline the importance of the historic decision of the European Council of 23 June 2022 to grant the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine the EU candidate status and agree to step up efforts to ensure their full membership in the EU.

We are looking forward for the European Commission’s evaluation of the progress achieved and decision on starting already this year accession negotiations of Ukraine and Republic of Moldova with the EU.

Romania and the Republic of Moldova reiterated their readiness to support Ukraine’s initiative for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, expressing their support to the Peace Formula of President Zelensky and their commitment to actively work with Ukraine on implementation of the 10-point peace plan. We emphasize that the Peace Formula gives our common vision on the necessary steps that will ensure comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine and security for the whole world.

We stress that the perpetrators of serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine as well as the responsible officials must be held accountable and we express our full support for the efforts of the international community to ensure accountability for these crimes, including through judicial mechanisms.

We have underlined the importance of the Romania-Republic of Moldova-Ukraine trilateral format of dialogue and cooperation in bringing our countries closer and reiterated our strong engagement to continue our coordination in this format.

Based on the substantive results of the first trilateral meeting in Odesa in September 2022, we have agreed to organize, at the earliest opportunity in the upcoming period, a new round of trilateral talks between the Foreign Ministers, with the participation of the ministers responsible for energy and infrastructure respectively.

Bogdan Aurescu

Nicu Popescu 

Dmytro Kuleba

Angel Tîlvăr

Anatolie Nostatîi 

Oleksii Reznikov