The 2012 Annual Report of the Romanian Armed Forces took place on Monday, 25 February at the defence ministry location, in the presence of President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Victor Ponta and other representatives of the Romanian Government and Parliament.

Lieutenant General Stefan Danila made a detailed presentation of the state of the military, with emphasis on the priorities of the General Staff, the participation in the projects of the Alliance to develop common capabilities, multinational capabilities of the Smart Defence type and the new Conected Forces Initiative, combat service and participation in operations outside the national territory.

'In 2012, the Romanian military operated in the service of civil population, conducting about 900 interventions, that involved over 9,000 troops and 1,300 technical means', the chief of General Staff said.

Lieutenant General Stefan Danila briefed the participants on the main goals of the Romanian Armed Forces in 2013 and on medium and long term.

The Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, appreciated that Romania met its military commitments to international bodies and thanked the troops who participated in missions abroad last year.

'I consider that 2013 is a reference year. Now, for the first time after five years of cuts, the defence budget is with 14 percent larger that the previous year. We have 700 billion lei for capital expenditure and we wish that next year we have a larger defence budget by 0.3 percent of the GDP', minister Dusa stated.

Mircea Dusa emphasized the good training of the military personnel and highlighted the need to improve the military legislation related to the military career.

At the end of the activity, President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea addressed the personnel present at the Annual Report of the General Staff.

MoND Press Office