The Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, will participate in the meeting of NATO defence ministers to take place at NATO HQ, in Brussels, on 5 February, 2015.

The main topic on the meeting agenda will be the implementation of what was agreed upon at the Wales Summit, especially reviewing NATO's Readiness Action Plan. They will focus particularly on the follow-up decisions related to RAP, according to the rhythm and calendar agreed on previously.

The meeting will be the first opportunity to discuss the preparations for the next NATO Summit to take place in Warsaw, in mid-2016.

Another topic will also be the new threats to allied security generated by the East European crises. Ministers will take follow-up decisions as to the new Political Directive of the Alliance, starting from the need to assure the capability to effectively counter these strategic challenges.

The Romanian defence minister will have bilateral meetings with his British and Georgian counterparts aiming at intensifying defence related bilateral cooperation.

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The NATO defence ministers' meeting of Thursday, 5 February, is one of this year's three annual meetings at this level. The meeting takes place in the special context created by the Ukraine crisis.

The alteration of the East European security environment generated prompt, major, reactions on the allied agenda, showing NATO solidarity and the capability of member states to act for the protection of the allies who feel vulnerable in the face of the new threats. To this effect, the decision was taken to implement the assurance measures and to adopt and promote the Readiness Action Plan, as agreed at the Summit of September 2014, which would be reviewed and subjected to distinct discussions at the defence ministers' meeting of February 2015.

RAP is a coherent and comprehensive package of measures necessary to ensure an efficient response capability to the alteration of the security environment on the eastern flank of the alliance. In other words, RAP offers specific ways of response and includes measures of assuring the allied states and keeping a significant allied military presence and activity to the East of NATO territory, by deploying Land, Air or Navy forces, on a rotation basis.

Other measures relate to increasing the reaction capability of NATO Response Force/NRF, by creating forces capable to respond more rapidly and efficiently to possible risks and threats, by establishing command and control elements in the territories of our eastern allies and pre-positioning equipment in the region.

In the effort to implement the decisions of the summit, Romania identified specific ways to commit to new responsibilities within RAP, namely offering the support of the host nation for certain elements of the newly established structures and by creating and rendering operational multinational allied command and control elements on the national territory.

MoND Press Office