Romanian president, foreign minister start Caucasus conflict tour

Romanian President Traian BasescuBucharest - Romanian President Traian Basescu and Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu embarked Wednesday on a whirlwind tour of five countries to review the Georgian-Russian conflict and its effects on the region.

In just two days, the Romanian duo were to visit the Ukraine, Moldava, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, meeting with their counterparts to review developments in the wake of the conflict in Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia.

In Kiev, Basescu is to meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to start the series of top-level meetings.

He will later meet Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Azerbaijan head of state Ilkham Aliyev and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

Romania recently confirmed that it had provided weapons support to Georgia's infantry, with this assistance falling within international conventions.

At NATO's special foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday, Comanescu had stated that Romania continued to support Georgia's aim to join the North Atlantic alliance. dpa