Presidents Iohannis, Trump due to meet at White House for one hour and a half

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will be received by his US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, the second such meeting the two have had since 2017. The meeting is scheduled to last an hour and a half.

The early schedule did not mention any press conference or statement by the two. The White House visit is due to start at 2 p.m..

Energy, security and the US-Romanian strategic partnership are the key points due to be discurssed.

Last week, President Iohannis revealed the key points of his visit to Washington:

• the three issues mentioned above are the key themes of talks there
• the visit has been wished for by the two leaders „for some time”, but their agendas allowed it to take place now
• Romania underscores its commitment to spend 2% of the GDP on Defense in line with NATO-wide commitments
• on energy, Romania is interested in a higher US involvement in the Black Sea region.
• Also on energy, Iohannis believes the Romanian government has an opening to „fix things” in the next few months on topics he says were not „properly thought of” – an emergency ordinance last winter which hit energy companies, as well as a law on offshore operations
• According to HotNews.ro information, the Romanian Government was expecting a final decision from ExxonMobil on investing in the Black Sea. On the other hand, the Americans said a final decisions would not come until the said emergency ordinance and offshore law are not changed.
• increasing European dependence on Russian gas
• programs to equip Romanian army
• an increase of Romanian military presence in Afghanistan
• an increase of the number of US troops on Romanian soil as a security guarantee
• the issue of US visas applied to Romanian citizens