Defence Minister Gabriel Les met with the Ambassador of Finland to Bucharest, Paivi Pohjanheimo, on Wednesday, April 12.

Opinions referring to the Romanian Armed Forces' priorities, ways of intensifying defence bilateral cooperation and recent evolutions of the European security climate were some of the topics tackled during the meeting with the Finnish official.

Minister Les made a presentation on the procurement objectives of the Romanian armed forces and our country's commitment in allocating the resources necessary to upgrade the defence capabilities; in this respect, ways of cooperation in the technical and military fields between Romania and Finland were considered.

At the same time, bilateral cooperation within EU with regard to Romania's potential assuming of the Chairmanship of the EU Council in the first semester of 2019 and Finland's in the second semester of the same year were approached. In this context, the two officials agreed upon the need to intensify the coordination processes between the two states' defence ministries on current issues from the field of EU's Common Security and Defence Policy.

The two officials emphasized the bilateral cooperation potential in countering the hybrid threats and in increasing resilience based on the experience, expertise and good practices employed by the governmental structures of Romania and Finland.

Press Department