The Minister of Defence of Romania, Mr. Mircea Dusa, visited NATO Headquarters on Monday, 13 May 2013, when he met with the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Alexander Vershbow. The talks focused on NATO agenda and aspects related to the impending Defence Ministerial to take place on 4 to 5 June this year.

Minister Dusa reaffirmed Romania`s political and operational commitment to a successful transition of the situation in Afghanistan, according to the agenda. He mentioned that a decision of the Supreme Council of National Defence stipulates that the ratio of Romania`s participation in the post-2014 mission in Afghanistan should be in the limits of the other allies` participation in the effort of the Alliance.

The way defence capabilities are allotted to nations within the defence planning process of the Alliance is a topic of high preeminence on the next month`s defence ministerial agenda. Minister Dusa reassured the NATO official that Romania will meet the agreed targets concerning the available capabilities and the need to have a defence budget that can sustain the assumed political commitments.

The Romanian minister reaffirmed the government decision to increase the defence budget so that, by 2016, our country should be one of the NATO states that fulfils their requirement to allot two percent of their GDP to defence.

Security threats were another topic approached by the two officials. The defence minister showed that Romania is interested to get actively involved in the development of the allied policy concerning cyber defence. He also informed Ambassador Vershbow that the missile defence elements on Romanian territory get operational as planned.

The defence minister also met with Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. The meeting is part of an extended and consistent dialogue the Romanian Ministry of National Defence has with the European Commission related to the defence industry.
The two officials discussed of the activity conducted by the European Commission and the European Defence Agency in terms of defence industrial policy, research and development and internal market. Minister Mircea Dusa said the defence ministry will take an active part in the European initiatives in the field of defence industry that are of interest to Romania, especially regarding pooling and sharing and participating in EDA projects.

Minister Mircea Dusa and Commissioner Michel Barnier discussed aspects of the preparations for the European Council meeting on defence related issues in December 2013. The Romanian official emphasized the importance of the preparations for this Council meeting for the adoption of some concrete decisions that would allow the EU future development from the perspective of the Common Security and Defence Policy. In his opinion, it is very important that the European Union defence industry take into account the development of the defence industry in medium and small states while having in mind the common interests of EU and NATO.

Minister Mircea Dusa and Commissioner Michel Barnier appreciated the ggod cooperation between the European Commission and the Romanian Ministry of National Defence and decided that the dialogue should continue in matters of common interest at the level of decision-makers and experts.

MoND Press Office