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The military and religious ceremony was organized Wednesday, September 29, 04 at the 280th Infantry Battalion in Focsani due to the return to the country of the detachment that acted between December 2003 and July 2004 in the “Enduring Freedom IV” operation in Afghanistan.
Ioan Mircea Pascu, minister of National Defence, General Mihail Popescu, chief of the Romanian General Staff, MoND officials, representatives of the local government and the families participated to this ceremony.
Hereby we present the speech Ioan Mircea Pascu delivered:
Honored Assistance,
Dear militaries,
I am pleased and honored to be here, today, with you at your return from your mission. As the minister of National Defence I visited several times the troops in Afghanistan and I know that there the activity is developed in conditions of stress, danger, being hard to bear the relief and the weather, far away from home. It is not easy, especially when one knows that in the theater of operations in Afghanistan the Romanian Armed Forces paid their sacrifice, in autumn last year. But you, my dear militaries from the 280th Infantry Battalion you successeded and over passed all the difficulties for fulfilling your mission.
I want to thank you, as I already did when together with General Mihail Popescu we decorated the flag of the unit in Khandahar in the name of the President of Romania for the responsibility, the seriousness and the spirit of sacrifice you proved during the mission. You demonstrated that Romania, now a full member of NATO is a credible partner honoring her obligations towards the Allies. Also remarkable is your professionalism in cooperating with your American colleagues, and we received their appreciations.
I am convinced that the experience gained in Afghanistan will be integrated within your Brigade training program so that in future, when necessary, the Brigade will say “present” for any mission outside the national territory. We also found out that your colleagues from Ramnic we recently visited in the theater of operations are performing their mission in very good terms. I want to underline that the fulfillment of the engagements Romania assumed as NATO full member and with enhanced responsibilities will continue in future time to represent the main aim of the Ministry of National Defence.
We will focus the efforts and the resources in increasing the level of operationalization of forces and capabilities in order to participate to the entire range of NATO missions.
In the same time we will continue the process of reform and the re-structure of the Romanian Armed Forces and the military equipment modernization for achieving the performant, effective, flexible and well motivated forces and the interoperability with the allied Armed Forces. For the military young generation, I reaffirm, this occasion too, our decision in assuring the environment for them to bring a new breath, value and dynamism.
In about two weeks Romania will host in Poiana Brasov the Informal Reunion of the Defence Ministers from NATO members, the first action at ministerial level after the Isanbul Summit. This is the occasion for debating important aspects on the future of the Alliance.
The Reunion will confirm once again our position as an active country fully integrated in the strategic, political and military processes developing within NATO.
I am pleased to say and appreciate that you too, contributed to our country’s new quality and for that I want to thank you once more.
Congratulations for the honoring way you served the flag in this complex mission in the Afghani desert, in fulfilling the mandate granted by the Parliament! I wish you health, good luck and all the joy in everything you are going to do from now on!
MoND Press Office