The Defence Ministers approached during the working dinner of October 26 the projection of stability beyond the Alliance's borders as a second important working level with a view of implementing the decisions adopted in July in Warsaw. In this respect, the following decisions were adopted: the initiation of the future NATO training and development of the Iraqi defence capabilities (NCTB-1) starting with January 2017, continuing the Alliance's effort in the Aegean Sea and launching a new maritime security operation in the Central Mediterranean Sea (Operation SEA GUARDIAN). This will provide the framework to the allied support for the European Union Operation SOPHIA.

On October 27, the allied defence ministers discussed the ways of enhancing cooperation between NATO and European Union and of implementing the Joint Declaration signed at the NATO Warsaw Summit on this subject. The High Representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, Federica Mogherini, and the defence ministers of Poland and Sweden also participated in the reunion.

The allied and EU interventions resulted into a consensual approach on the necessity to consolidate the political and practical cooperation between the two organizations with a view of efficiently counteracting the complex threats against the European and Euro-Atlantic security. An enhanced cooperation will be based on the principles of complementarity and avoidance of duplication while the defence capability development must meet the standards imposed by the NATO and EU operations and missions.

The Romanian defence minister emphasized the importance of the existence of a solid and long-lasting trans-Atlantic connection by mentioning that the current security challenges ask for a thorough NATO-UE relation. At the same time, the Romanian official emphasized the necessity to ensure complementarity between the European Union and the North-Atlantic Alliance as well as the necessity to give a new impetus to the Strategic Partnership between the two organizations through a synergic implementation of the NATO-EU Joint Declaration and by intensifying cooperation in solid fields such as the countering of hybrid threats, cybernetic defence and strategic communication.

Press Department