On Monday, October 8th, Defence Minister Mihai Fifor met with Major General Vladimer Chachibaia, the Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, who makes a visit to Romania over October 8th-10th, following the invitation of the Romanian Chief of Defence Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca.

During the meeting, Minister Fifor and Major General Vladimer Chachibaia tackled topics of common interest such as bilateral cooperation and the security situation from the Black Sea region.

Last week, at the NATO Ministerial, we analyzed the progresses made by Georgia with regard to the implementation of the NATO-Georgia Substantial Package. One of the conclusions of the meeting was the need to enhance dialogue between NATO and Georgia. Ensuring regional security is another key-element of this cooperation, the security situation from the Black Sea region being characterized by complex and diversified developments. I appreciate Georgia's commitment to the Alliance's efforts in ensuring security in the region, both states holding important roles as riverine states, minister Fifor stated.

The meeting agenda between General Nicolae Ciuca and Major General Vladimer Chachibaia comprised topics referring to the identification of new ways of cooperation between the two armed forces as well as the diversification of the joint training methods. The Romanian-Georgian military cooperation activities cover several fields such as military cooperation activities: personnel development, the medical-military field and the protection of the military classified information.

There is an excellent bilateral cooperation between Romania which must be consolidated, in virtue of our common interests. We contribute to the training of the Georgian Special Operations Forces through training sessions and joint exercises in order to increase interoperability within NATO. Romania stays committed to the development of the Alliance capabilities with a view of accomplishing the entire spectrum of missions, which involves a good coordination with the partner states. We also pursue to enhance cooperation efforts and correlate them with NATO's current and future goals, by making the most of the opportunities offered by the international cooperation mechanisms, General Nicolae Ciuca declared.

The following days, the Georgian delegation will visit the subordinates units of the Defence Staff.

The Press Office