"The tour is part of the intensified moves of the Romanian diplomacy of consolidation of the Eastern dimension of the foreign policy of Romania, after its EU entry, in 2007," said the minister.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the visit, Nov. 14-20, will have a strong economic component and Lazar Comanescu will be accompanied by officials from institutions in the field of energy and the business environment in Romania.

The Romanian top diplomat will participate, on Friday, in an Energy Summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the theme of the meeting being the need of energy security, by the development of alternative corridors of transport of energy and the intensification of cooperation with the states in the Caspian basin.

Participating in the energy summit in the Azeri capital city will be high level and governmental officials from the EU countries -- Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, from Central Asia -- Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, from Turkey, the United States, Georgia, Ukraine, as well as European commissioner for energy Andris Piebalgs.

Comanescu will next go to Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. Approached will be topics regarding the bilateral political dialogue, the extension of economic cooperation, topics in the field of energy, the identification of projects ensuring the long lasting development of the relationships of Romania with the states in the area of the Caucasus and Central Asia, of the Romanian-Turkish links, of those between Turkey and the EU.