The Minister of National Defence Gabriel Les had a meeting with the British State Secretary for Defence Michael Fallon in Brussels, on Thursday, May 25, as part of the program of the meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government.

The talks included ways of enhancing bilateral defence cooperation and focused on the deployment of British troops on Romanian territory and in the Black Sea region, as part of implementing the forward presence of the Alliance on the eastern flank.

Minister Les emphasized the major importance of augmenting the presence of British air, land and maritime capabilities on Romanian territory and in the Black Sea region, as an expression of the allied solidarity and the Strategic Partnership between Romania and Great Britain. He also stated that the Romanian authorities appreciate the participation of the British troops in common exercises and other training activities, as weall as in the Air Police missions in Romania, mentioning the deployment of British combat aircraft Typhoon at Mihail Kogalniceanu.

The Romanian official also presented the steps made in implementing NATO's forward presence on the national territory and reiterated the request that the British military continue to support these efforts, also through a potential contribution to rendering operational the Multinational Brigade in Craiova. In this context, he highlighted the need to continue in a coherent manner the initiatives to accomplish the allied forward presence on the eastern flank, as a central element of enhancing deterrence and defence posture of the Alliance.

The British Secretary of State restated the pledge made by London to intensify military cooperation with the Romanian military and reiterated the strategic importance of increasing the presence of British forces to the exercises conducted in Romania and in the Black Sea region. The official informed of the intention of British authorities to continue the common training activities, noting the significant participation in NATO Exercise Noble Jump 2017, to be conducted in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Press Department