On Thursday, February 16, at Brussels, defence minister Gabriel Les met with the British Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon. The meeting took place as part of the NATO Defence Ministerial and focused on the ways of consolidating bilateral relations in the field of defence, within the Strategic Partnership between Great Britain and Romania.

The Romanian defence minister emphasized the enhanced dialogue at political and military levels and the increased number and quality of the joint cooperation activities with the British armed forces. Also, the minister thanked the British soldiers for their significant participation within the multinational exercises which are conducted in Romania, in all three operational fields-ground, air and maritime.

The Romanian official appreciated the constant and significant support offered by Great Britain in the implementation of the commitments adjacent to NATO's forwarded presence in Romania and the Black Sea region, expressing the wish that this support be continued throughout year 2017.

The British Secretary of State for Defence restated London's solid commitment with respect to intensifying practical military cooperation with Romania by focusing on training and multinational exercises, defence intelligence, logistics and technical-military cooperation. Also, he emphasized the strategic significance of the increased British land force presence in the exercises organized in Romania, of the British naval capabilities in the Black Sea region and the deployment of the Typhoon aircraft of the Royal Armed Forces at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, this year, in order to participate in the air policing missions to secure the Southern flank of the Alliance as well as in other joint training activities with the Romanian Air Force.

Press Department