Brigade General Ph.D. Virgil Balaceanu will take the SEEBRIG command during the ceremony occurring Thursday, July 12 in Istanbul, Turkey.

During the same ceremony the representative of Macedonia, Mrs. Radica Gareva will receive the presidency of the Initiative of Reunions of the South East Defense Ministers (SEDM).

Romania will provide eight military within the SEEBRIG command deployed till 2011 in Istanbul.


General Virgil Balaceanu held the positions of commander of Infantry sub-units and units, commander of the 34th Territorial Mechanized Brigade and the 2nd Light Infantry Brigade. Between August 2006 and June 2007 he was the deputy Military Representative of Romania to NATO and the European Union. He graduated the Academy of High Military Studies; the Faculty of History-Philosophy of the University of Bucharest; the Defense Resources Management International Course, Monterey, Ca, USA; the US Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Master Executive NATO Course. He is doctor in military sciences.

The SEDM Initiative was launched in March 1996 aiming to promote the regional cooperation and the neighborliness, the increase of defensive capacity and cooperation through the collective efforts and facilitation of the process of integration within the Euro-Atlantic institutions.
The countries participating to SEDM are: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, FYROM, Romania, and Ukraine (December 2005) and Turkey. In the political and military consultations, Croatia, Slovenia and the United States are participating as observers.
The presidency of the Committee of Coordination of the Process of Reunions of the South East Defense Ministers and the SEEBRIG command are ensured for two years, by rotation, by each of the signing country.
Since July 2005 the MPFSEE political-military presidency is held by Albania and the SEEBRIG command by Bulgaria.
, the SEEBRIG command was for four years (2003-07) in Constanta, Romania

MoD Press Office