The Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, made an official visit to Portugal on Tuesday, 16 April, at the invitation of his counterpart, Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco.

The two officials’ talks focused on military bilateral relations and ways of furthering them. The two ministers reiterated that Romania and Portugal are reliable defence partners and agreed to resume the reunions of the Defence Joint Committee.

The main topic on the agenda was the acquisition of F-16 aircraft from Portugal. The two ministers reviewed the technical negotiations that took place until now. They agreed to continue negotiations and to establish a deadline in this respect at the end of June.

The Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, told the Portuguese officials that Romania is interested in developing cooperation at service level in the field of training, personnel training and technical support.

Afghanistan, Chicago Summit, the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) were all topics the two ministers dealt with. They also reviewed the agenda of the European Affairs Ministers to take place in Luxembourg on 22 and 23 April 2013.

MoND Press Office