Defence Minister Mircea Dusa and Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Nicolae Ciuca, participated to the self-assessment of the Land Forces Staff's activity for year 2014, on Tuesday, February 17.

The Chief of Land Forces Staff, Major General Dumitru Scarlat, made a presentation of the status of the structures he coordinates, of the issues emerged throughout the former year and of the way they were managed as well as of the priorities set to be accomplished by the Service this year.

The continuous process of our militaries' participation in international missions, of the transformation, modernization and development processes of the structure combat capability as well as the maintenance of the readiness level in order to ensure immediate reaction were the Land Forces' main objectives for year 2014.

'I mostly appreciate the efforts made by you to achieve the training objectives. Also, I am very pleased with the measures taken in spending the additional funds received following the last year budget rectification ', minister Dusa said when referring to the fact that the Land Forces increased its maintenance costs with over 300% in the third and forth quarters of year 2014, which led to a significant increase of the equipment readiness level.

Besides the soldiers deployed in the missions as part of the international commitments assumed, over 2,300 soldiers from the Land Forces and over 1,000 soldiers of the allied or partner states' armed forces participated in the multinational exercises conducted on the Romanian territory while 1,000 Romanian soldiers participated in 11 exercises performed abroad.

'Let us not forget which our main mission is: that is to defend the national territory! The Land Forces need the initiation of certain major procurement programs immediately after the finalization of the on-going ones. The objectives need to be permanently adjusted and reshaped in accordance with the evolution of the political and military situation from the Black Sea area. I congratulate you on the way you accomplished the missions assigned, the defence minister concluded.

The establishment of the two commands that are to be made available to the North-Atlantic Alliance, the participation in international missions and the continuation of the combat capability development process are the main objectives set by the Land Forces for year 2015.

MoND Press Office