Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc met with NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, at NATO Headquarters, Brussels, on Thursday, 21 January. The chief of General Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca, also participated in the meeting.

Topics of present interest for the North Atlantic Alliance were approached during the office calls, with focus on the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan (RAP), the Warsaw Summit agenda that is to take place this year, the evolution of the security situation in Afghanistan while continuing with Resolute Support Operation throughout 2016 as well as the assessment of the security threats at global and regional levels.

When evaluating RAP's implementation measures, minister Motoc emphasized Romania's active participation by increasing its contribution to NATO Response Force in terms of personnel and equipment (including air force means), as well as by significantly augmenting the number of international exercises conducted on the national territory, which allowed for the training of the Romanian soldiers with the ones fighting in the Response Forces structures. Defence Minister specified that this high training level will also be maintained in the next two years.
Also, the minister highlighted the fact that two allied structures were established last year in Bucharest NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU), which recently reached its initial operational capability, and the Multinational Division SouthEast (activated on December 1, 2015) whose initial operational capability is to be achieved this year, while its full operational capability will be reached in 2018. These will offer additional options for the conduct of the Alliance's missions in this area from the NATO Eastern flank.

As for the preparation of the political decisions of the NATO Warsaw Summit, it was emphasized that additional measures (others than the ones stipulated in the RAP) must be taken with a view to consolidating NATO's defence and discouraging posture and continuing its adaptation to the new security environment.

In the same context, the Romanian defence minister punctuated the importance that must be given to the existing security situation from the Extended Black Sea Region; pragmatic defence and discouraging measures adapted to the specificity of this area must be agreed upon and implemented.

Also, defence minister declared that Romania will maintain for year 2016 Resolute Support Mission from Afghanistan the same contribution level from 2015, which counted almost 650 soldiers.

In the second part of his official visit to NATO Headquarters, defence minister Mihnea Motoc met with the Chairman of NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel.

The two officials discussed topics included in NATO's general agenda, Romania's contribution to the allied effort in implementing the RAP and to the military operations conducted by the Alliance in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

MoND Press Office