During the visit in the Republic of Macedonia, the Minister of National Defense, Teodor Atanasiu met yesterday, May 16, his counterpart Jovan Manasijevski and the chief of General Staff, Major General Miroslav Stajanovski.

The Romanian minister of National Defense stressed the Romanian major interest in maintenance of peace and stability in the Balkans. We are firmly convinced about the benefit the military cooperation can reach not only on regional plan but also the enlarged context of promoting the security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region stated Atanasiu.

During the talks with his Macedonian counterpart, Atanasiu stressed on the contribution of the Romanian state and Armed Forces in the international fight against terrorism with direct point to the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both the Armed Forces, Romanian and Macedonian, are in a full process of restructure and modernization, the process requiring a very high financial investment for the necessary training and equipping for reaching the interoperability with other allied armed forces stated the Romanian minister of National Defense.

MoND Press Office