The Minister of National Defence, Mihnea Motoc, participated in the celebration of the technical capability of the Aegis Ashore Site at Deveselu, hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lazar Comanescu, at Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The event was attended by H.E. Hans Klemm, the Ambassador of the USA in Romania, Vice Admiral James Syring, Director of the Missile Defence Agency and mr. Patrick Auroy, NATO Assistant Secretary General.

Minister Mihnea Motoc noted that the missile defence system at Deveselu is the most important Romanian-American Strategic Partnership, pointing out that the facility, whose technical capability was announced today contributes specifically to Romania's security as well as that of the USA. Within NATO environment, Romania's hosting some of the misile defence elements which comes as a solid affirmation of the active profile we have undertook since we joined the Alliance, the minister said.

The minister of national defence said that the European Phased Adaptive Approach / EPAA) is in agreement with the shared commitment on the comprehensive NATO missile defence architecture in which the defence system at Deveselu represents an important contribution to the development of NATO capabilities in the field.

Underlying that Romania met all the commitments assumed under this project, minister Motoc noted that the military base at Deveselu is one of the most modern units managed by the defence ministry, in which we have invested about 11.2 Mil. $.

The defence minister appreciated the impecable way the Romanian-American dialogue was conducted with the view to the Bilateral Agreement in the field as well as the cooperation among institutions, at national level, in meeting the assumed goals that went in a way comparable to the type of conjugated effort that preceded and brought us NATO membership.

MoND Press Office