On Thursday March 18, the Minister of National Defence, Mr. Gabriel Oprea, received the visit of the Minister of Defence of Poland, Mr. Bogdan Klich, who headed a military delegation.

The talks, attended by Secretary of State Viorel Oancea and the Chief of General Staff Gheorghe Marin as well, the officials focused on developing bilateral; military relations, cooperation within NATO, contributions to EU Common Defence and Security Policy, participation of Romanian and Polish troops in missions in the theaters of operations in Afghanistan and the Western Balkans.

The Romanian defence minister highlighted the fact that Romania and Poland are two nations highly committed to fighting global threats, that Romanian and Polish troops have won the respect of their allies due to their active contributions to ensuring security in the hotbeds of the world: 'One relevant example is the good cooperation between our troops within the multinational coalition in Iraq ' minister Oprea said. Cooperation with Polish forces has been significant and covers a time span of over five years, from July 2003 to November 2008, when the Polish military contingent ended its mission there and returned home. The minister mentioned the good cooperation relations with the Polish Republic that are based on a permanent political and military dialogue at the highest level. The dialogue intensified in the aftermath of Romanian President Traian Basescu's visit in Poland in March last year, which marked the beginning of a strategic partnership between the two countries. Last year’s visit in Romania of the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski in Romania, in October, emphasized once more that developing bilateral cooperation is considered as highly important by the two nations.

'Developing military cooperation will lead to the consolidation of stability pillars in the North-Eastern and South-Eastern part of the Euro-Atlantic region. This would allow the two nations to make most out of their geostrategic position and the potential they have within the EU and NATO' Mr.Gabriel Oprea stated during the official talks. He continued by saying that in NATO, Romania, like Poland, continue to firmly support the transformation of forces and capabilities on short, medium and long term, in agreement with the decision of the allies.

The two ministers reiterated that the main goal in redefining the Strategic Concept of the Alliance upon its 60th anniversary, when it faces new realities, challenges and threats, is increased security for all members of the North-Atlantic community. In this respect, minister Gabriel Oprea stated that Romanian approach to the topic of missile defence stays true to the the principles of allied indivisible security and solidarity as defined during the Bucharest and Strasbourg-Kehl Summits.

Romania’s participation in the American air defence shield is a success of our nation in its bilateral relation with the USA and its status as a reliable partner within NATO.

'We consider that the implication in the US air defence shield project side by side a strategic partner, such as Poland is, gives us the opportunity to achieve a consistent expertise transfer during its implementation due to Poland's experience in the old approach of the missile defence project's Gabriel Oprea said. He thanked the Polish partner for their positive messages during the bilateral consultations between our foreign affairs ministries that took place not long ago in Warsaw with the participation of representatives of the two defence ministries.

The two defence ministers identified practical fields of bilateral cooperation such as joint training and exercises, common training of Special Forces units, training in the field of handling unexploded ammunition, reconversion of military personnel. Other topics were approached as well, such as perspectives of military-technical cooperation, ships building and maintenance, identifying ways of cooperation in the exploitation and maintenance of air carriers.

The Polish partner offered to share its experience in using multirole aircraft, as Romania is on the way of deciding which type of such aircraft it will acquire.
Minister Bogdan Klich visiting programme included also a visit at the National Defence College where he will lecture for the students.

MoND Press Office