During his visit in the United States, General Nicolae Ciuca, the chief of General Staff met with General Joseph F. Dunford jr., the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Tuesday, February 21st.

Among the topics tackled during the meeting were the importance of the Black Sea for the European and international security, Romania's position and its role as a security provider, the American commitments with respect to assuring the Eastern Flank of the Alliance, the US-Romania cooperation in theaters of operations, the Romanian Armed Forces' modernization programs and ways of supporting these programs.

The meeting focused on identifying ways of continuing the integration and synchronization of the training efforts at national level with the US and NATO regional initiatives and the participation in projects such as: the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI), Operation ATLANTIC RESOLVE (OAR), rendering the Multinational Division South-East (MDN-SE HQ) operational, making the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) functional, and modernizing the Romanian Armed Forces.

Also, Romania's ongoing exercises and initiatives regarding the tailored Forward Presence which contributes to the strengthening of the Alliance's Eastern Flank were brought into discussion.

The meeting with the American counterpart was an opportunity to discuss ways of developing the Romanian-American strategic partnership, which is a major national objective, General Ciuca pointed out.

At the end of the meeting, the chief of General Staff expressed his appreciation for the support given by the American partner, in the context of NATO reassurance measures.

On the same occasion the command NCO of the General Staff, Sergeant Florea Sas met with Chief Master Sergeant, Mitchell O. Brush, Senior Enlisted Advisor for the National Guard Bureau and his counterpart, Command Sergeant Major John Wayne Troxell, Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Press Department