State Secretary for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations, Nicolae Nasta, participated, in the Foreign Affairs Council and the working sessions of EDA's Steering Committee, at Brussels, over 13-14 May.

During the reunion between the foreign affairs and defence ministers from the EU member states and their counterparts from the G5 Sahel Group (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad), Nicolae Nasta emphasized the support offered by Romania by participating in the UN and EU-led missions, the involvement in the on-going reconstruction and stabilization programmes from this region as well as our country's contribution to MINUSMA Mission from Mali, starting with November 2019.

As part of the FAC Reunion, the 21 member states signed, together with the European defence Agency, the Agreement Optimizing Cross Border Movement Permission in Europe on the optimization of the procedures for getting the border-crossing approval to Europe, which will facilitate the process of granting military trans-frontier permission in the aerial and ground fields.

The goal of signing this agreement is that, by year 2020, the member states harmonize their national regulations, procedures and border- crossing approval timelines. The programme implements an important part of the Action Plan on Military Mobility, which was presented by the Eu's High Representative , Federica Mogherini, to the European Parliament Commission and Council, in March 2018.

At the High Representative Invitation, the defence ministers got together at a working breakfast and approached subjects referring to the cooperation between the European Union and NATO, especially the countering of hybrid threats and the status of the joint actions conducted by the two organizations based on EU-NATO Joint Declaration, adopted in July 2018.

Another topic of the reunion agenda was the evolution of the PESCO process and other subjects of common interest such as investments in the defence field and importance of the collaborative projects.

The Press Office