Romanian President Traian Basescu is starting today a two-day visit to Jordan, a country of strategic importance for the US policy in the Middle East.
Two months ago, Romanian foreign minister, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, paid a short visit to Amman, given the Ramadan was just beginning. Upon his return to Bucharest, Ungureanu stated that Romania wants to act as an "honest broker" in the Middle East.
Romania clearly shows a new openness in its policy towards the Middle East, and Jordan, as an important player in the region, must be taken into account. This need came to the fore ever so clearer during the crisis of the Romanian journalists taken hostage in Iraq, sthis spring, edit. notet when traditional good relations Romania enjoyed with the Arab countries were reactivated, particularly those among intelligence services.
Bucharest decided to play its traditional good relations with the Arab world as its political comparative advantage that it will bring to the table of the European Union member states, once it would become a member of the EU. Ungureanu stated at the time: "Romania is well liked by the Arab nations and may offer its expertise in the region which other states do not have."
Basescu will meet today and tomorrow the leader of a state that had the wisdom to make peace with Israel and which helped in various ways the international coalition fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Romania is accused, as Jordan is, for allowing landing on its territory the CIA operated planes that transported suspected terrorists captured in Iraq or Afghanistan; also, its intelligence services are rumored to work with CIA better than the famous Israeli Mossad is.
Hence, it is most likely that such issues will be addressed by the delegations meeting in Amman, most of all since they all must have been on the table after the recent visit US Secretary o
