Wednesday, June 24, the Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa participated in the informal meeting of the NATO defence ministers that are part of the Framework Nation Concept Coordinated by Germany (DEU FNC).

During the meeting, dedicated to the analysis of the stage and perspectives of the implementation process of this concept, the Romanian defence minister signed along the representatives of five other countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia) a joint letter of accession to the principles and objectives of the DEU FNC group. This way, with the six new nations that come in addition to the 10 existing ones, the initiative coordinated by Germany will consist of 16 allied countries.

The large number of countries participating in the framework group led by Germany proves this is a viable concept, in terms of its ability to support the allied countries in developing the capabilities needed to achieve the NATO's level of ambition', Minister Dusa said in his speech at the meeting.

The minister went on by pointing out Romania has always been an active supporter of intensifying cooperation among the European allies as a means of assuring the necessary forces and capabilities to the Alliance. Their development is all the more important now, in the context of the new challenges of the security environment in the Eastern and Southern proximity of NATO.

The Romanian minister expressed his belief that the initiative will be a significant contribution to the intensification of the cooperation processes, for the increase of the capacity to deploy forces and maintaining capabilities critical to the Alliance, by using the framework offered by NATO defence planning process.

The defence ministers decided to join the efforts within DEU FNC for the strategic transformation of NATO, by including the Action Plan to increase the Alliance's operational capacity as an element contributing to its adapting ability.

MoND Press Office