National Defence Minister Adrian Tutuianu on Tuesday had a meeting with a delegation made up of former U.S. ambassadors to Eastern Europe, headed by Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council Damon Wilson, a National Defence Ministry (MApN) release informs.
The agenda of the talks included topics such as the development of the security environment in the Black Sea area, the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the U.S., and the earmarking of 2 percent of GDP for defence.
At the start of the meeting, Minister Tutuianu hailed the celebration, on Tuesday, of 20 years since the launch of the Romania – U.S. Strategic Partnership. It was underscored that on the defence dimension the cooperation with the U.S. under the Strategic Partnership directly contributed to strengthening Romania’s Euro-Atlantic profile and remains essential in the current complex regional and international security environment, the release reads. As concrete expressions of the solid bilateral cooperation in the military field, the National Defence Minister highlighted the anti-ballistic missile defence capability at Deveselu, the design and construction of the Romanian Special Forces, the multimodal transport hub of Mihail Kogalniceanu, as well as complex joint training and preparation.
In this context, the Romanian side conveyed its appreciations for the project initiated by the organisation, in collaboration with the “Carol I” National University for Defence, on the Black Sea topic, which generated a series of consistent debates on the importance of security in the region, in full accordance with the decisions adopted at the Warsaw NATO Summit.
Both delegations appreciated the excellent level of cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries, both in the theatres of operations and in the military training and preparation process, the common opinion being that, in the future, this solid partnership will be deepened and strengthened.
A topic tackled in the bilateral discussions was Romania’s decision to increase its defence budget, “the Romanian authorities thus offering an example of determination and rigorous planning in respect to consolidating the Armed Forces’ combat capacity, beyond the declarative level,” the National Defence Ministry shows. The Romanian Minister presented the U.S. delegation the eight strategic procurement programmes which the Armed Forces plan to implement in the next period, in accordance with real military operational needs.
Founded in 1961, the Atlantic Council represents an essential forum for analysing the changes in the economic and political area, through its worldwide network of leaders. The Council manages ten regional centres and functional programmes related to international security, shaping up the options of policies and strategies representing the vision of the North Atlantic Alliance.