On Monday March 29, the Minister of National Defence Gabriel Oprea had a meeting with the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Moldova, Vitalie Marinuta. The latter headed a military delegation that was on a two day' s visit in Romania.

The activity was organized as a result of both parties' interest in re-launching the bilateral relations, as expressed on the occasion of the Romanian President' s visit to Chisinau in January 2010.

At the beginning of the meeting, Minister Gabriel Oprea noted that there are favorable premises for re-building a long-lasting relationship based on mutual trust, solidarity and aspirations, now that our relations are no longer under pressure: 'We express our solidarity with the Republic of Moldova and our admiration for the democratic transformation of this people in 2009. The progress the new Moldavian Government achieved in the short time since its coming to power warrants that the country will embrace the European values and gives hope for the irreversibility of its democratic process.'

During the official talks in which State Secretary Viorel Oancea and the Chief of the Genral Staff, Amiral Gheorghe Marin, participated as well, such topics were approached as re-launching the bilateral military relations and identifying new ways of improving and diversifying them.

Mention was made of the assistance Romania is offering Moldavia in the field of military education and that 37 students from the Republic of Moldavia study in Romanian military institutions in the 2009-2010 academic year.

Defence Minister Vitalie Marinuta said he saw the need to enlarge our future bilateral military relations to cover all levels, from tactical to strategic. 'It is very important to us to be able to train our military personnel as good as possible in Romanian military institutions in fields that are not covered by our military institutions. The fact that we speak the same language makes training so much easier and efficient than in the case of other partner states', the Moldavian defence minister declared.

During the talks mention was made of the assistance Romania, in cooperation with other NATO nations, offers for the implementation of democratic reforms in the neighbor state within the South Caucasus and Moldova Clearing House initiative.

The Romanian defence minister encouraged the active participation of the Republic of Moldova in the regional initiatives in the Balkans and the Extended Black Sea Region, especially the South-East Defence Ministerial (SEDM) where the Republic of Moldova has the statute of an observer nation.

Related to the proposition of the Moldavian partner, the Romanian defence minister said 'We salute your proposition to establish a mixed Romania-Moldavia battalion all the more so as our military have acquired valuable experience in the field by their participation in the mixed Romanian-Hungarian Battalion or in the Tisa Multinational Romanian-Hungarian-Slovakian-Ukrainian Engineer Battalion.

At the end of the meeting, the two ministers signed the Cooperation Agreement between the armed forces of the two nations. The Agreement offers the legal frame for cooperation in fields such as mutual information on military flights over the borderline airspace, radar data exchanges, mutual help of endangered military aircraft in border and participation in joint activities.

The visiting programme of the delegation will also include a wreath-laying ceremony at the Unknown Soldier Tomb in Carol Park and a visit to the College for Crisis Management and Multinational Operations at the National Defence University 'Carol I'.

MoND Press Office