The two countries support each other economically, while they are competing geopolitically.

While Ankara’s relations with the West have soured in recent years, its relations with Moscow have come to a more stable footing. Nonetheless, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may cause Turkey to reassess its adversarial approach to old Western partners.

The Romanian Business Exchange organized on September 23rd 2021, at Radisson Blu Bucharest, the 5th edition of the Diplomacy360 International Conference. The theme of this edition was “Security and Prosperity at the Black Sea”.

Within the last three weeks, a series of decisions by leading Western powers seem to indicate a downgrading of Ukraine on the scale of Western policy priorities. These decisions risk demotivating Ukrainian reform efforts and eroding Western credibility in Ukraine.

Developing a full-fledged US-Ukraine strategic partnership under the Biden administration would presuppose continuity with those policies on military assistance and energy security. It also presupposes Washington’s return to mentoring and supporting Ukraine in the diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories.

The President and the Government of Ukraine are preparing to host a summit of heads of state and government, aiming to mobilize a more effective international response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

Following the important victory of Maia Sandu against Igor Dodon in the runoff of the presidential elections on the November 12, 2020 the mandate of the president-elect faces major challenges, both domestic and foreign. Moldovan citizens and the Western partners of the Republic of Moldova expect the new administration to adopt sustainable reforms, combat corruption, develop the economy, recalibrate the relation with the Russian Federation, and, at the same time, intensify the democratisation and Europeanisation process.

For almost three years, the Hungarian government has sought to instrumentalize the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and some European Union institutions to pressure Ukraine into legislating certain entitlements for the Hungarian national community in Carpathian Ukraine.
Kyiv and Budapest have initiated an effort to resolve their differences over the impact of Ukrainian language and education laws on the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine’s Carpathian province.

Ukraine’s ethnic-Bulgarian minority is concentrated in the southwestern part of Ukraine’s Odesa province, an area often if somewhat inaccurately referenced as “Bessarabia.” It forms a triangle between the Dnister/Nistru River, the Danube Estuary and the Black Sea, adjacent to the Russian-controlled Transnistria, and bordering on Moldova and Romania. This triangular area holds pivotal strategic significance in the region.

Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, has accepted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to chair the Executive Committee of Ukraine’s National Council for Reforms (Ukrinform, May 7). Taking up the new challenge, Saakashvili promised to draw on the experience of his universally recognized achievements in Georgia (which inspired this new appointment in Ukraine) “but also to draw on the experience of my defeats” (Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, May 8).