Defence Minister Gabriel Les participated in the Romanian-USA and Republic of Moldova Defence Forum, on Wednesday, November 28th, at the MoND headquarters.

During the talks, minister Les saluted the organization of this activity in Bucharest, in cooperation with the American-Romanian Business Council, and expressed his conviction that the emerging cooperation opportunities following this forum between the US and Romanian companies will lead to the increase of the American investments in the defence industry sector.

The defence minister also reiterated the fact that Romania is an important NATO ally and a trustworthy partner of the United States of America and, at the same time, focuses on the development of capabilities in support of the operational commitments assumed in the theaters of operations.

Also, minister Gabriel Les stated that 2018 is the consecutive year the defence budget allocated consisted in 2% of the GDP, which stands for a solid basis for the dynamics of the Romanian Armed Forces' modernization process, and that the recent decisions made with respect to the procurement of major equipment, such as PATRIOT, HIMARS, TBT 8x8 systems take Romania's Strategic Partnership with the USA at a new level.

At the end of his allocution, the defence minister whished good luck to the participants in the forum and appreciated that the activity would contribute to the development of this Strategic Partnership.

The Press Office