Romanian Defence Minister Adrian Tutuianu on Thursday welcomed Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel, who was in Romania to attend the Saber Guardian 2017 multinational defence exercise.
The Defence Ministry (MApN) says in a press statement that discussed at the meeting were NATO current affairs, with emphasis on the latest developments in the implementation of the decisions made by the NATO Warsaw Summit in connection with strengthening the defence and deterrence posture on the entire eastern flank of NATO.
“The defence minister mentioned the latest developments in securing NATO’s advanced presence in the Black Sea region, highlighting the importance of successful implementation of the initiatives that regard all the three dimensions – land, sea and air – that will strengthen security in all of NATO. Minister Tutuianu underlined the Romanian Government’s commitment to observe NATO’s decision for fair share of responsibilities inside NATO, emphasising the earmarking of two percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in defence spending and keeping it at the same level for the next decade.”
The two officials highlighted the opportunity provided by the Saber Guardian 2017 for training the troops in a joint multinational environment and for furthering interoperability and cooperation in maintaining the security of the Black Sea zone and the entire NATO, according to MApN.
Also on Thursday, the NATO official met Chief of General Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca.
Ciuca introduced Pavel to the efforts deployed by Romania to meet its NATO membership commitments, mentioning particularly participating in developing and consolidating essential components of the adapted advanced NATO presence on the southern segment of the eastern flank of NATO.
“Also discussed were the making of multinational brigade, the Romanian Armed Forces having provided a company for the Combat Group in Poland and third participation in a consolidated joint multinational training programme. Likewise, the two officials touched on upgrading equipment and acquiring new pieces of equipment, increasing Romanian participation in the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, as well as sharing in the NATO commitment to Afghanistan,” says MApN.