The Minister of National Defence, Mr.Gabriel Oprea, made an official visit in the Federal Republic of Germany on September 27 and 28, upon the invitation of the Federal Defence Minister, Mr. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg.

The agenda included talks on military bilateral relations, cooperation in international missions conducted under NATO and EU aegis; elements of mutual interest were identified concerning the military modernization of the two countries, joint training of military personnel, cooperation in technical-military field.

'Cooperation objectives consist in enhancing the political and military dialogue, developing direct partnership relations between military services, large units and education institutions of the Romanian and German military. Armed Forces modernization and commitment to NATO and EU are priorities for Romania even during budgetary austerity\" Minister Gabriel Oprea said.

The Romanian defence minister emphasized the importance participation in theaters of operations, especially Afghanistan, has for Romania that deployed there over 1600 troops with the intention to increase the number of soldiers to 1800.

'We are reliable partners both in the Western Balkans and in Afghanistan, where Romanian and German soldiers fight side by side. I wish to stress out that Romania appreciates the significant German presence in Afghanistan and we are confident that this joint effort will result in accomplishing our mission to ensure regional security and stability\" Romanian defence minister emphasized.

The officials discussed important topics on NATO agenda, such as missile defence, cyber attacks defence and energetic security as well as the need to endorse allied efforts to develop capabilities able to meet the security challenges of the 21st century.

At the end of the meeting, defence minister Oprea added that \"as far as technical and military cooperation is concerned, we intend to continue improving GEPARD air-defence systems of the Land Forces, to participate in the national programmes of strategic defence procurement by initiating strategic cooperation projects in developing armoured carriers and trucks '.

MoND Press Office