15 specialists from the Ministry of National Defense comprising of ten medical personnel and five CBRN specialists will depart to the US on May, 25 for approximately two weeks, as part of a support mission for the Alabama state authorities, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

'The United States of America has been our most stable, active and extensive strategic partner for over 20 years. The US Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, and I approached the subject of a support mission being sent to US during our most recent telephone conversation, along with the excellent dynamics of the collaboration between our Armed Forces. On that occasion, I thanked for the support of the American partners provided in April, which funded a strategic air transport of medical equipment from Seoul to Bucharest, in difficult times when the whole world was facing enormous challenges in supplying these products. It is now Romania's turn to stand along the United States in the fight against the new coronavirus. Military doctors and CBRN specialists of this mission will bring to America not only the experience gained recently in combating the effects of the pandemic, but also a message of solidarity and friendship of the Romanian people,' said Romanian minister of national defense Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca.

The medical personnel comes from emergency military hospitals located in Brasov, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Pitesti and Timisoara, while the CBRN team is composed of officers with extensive experience in the field from the Defense Staff and the Land Forces. The medical team will provide specialized support to their US counterparts in several medical care and treatment units across the state of Alabama, and will learn about the methods to combat infection with the new coronavirus and how they are being applied in the United States. In the same time, the CBRN specialists will exchange knowledge with their American counterparts on topics related to specific working procedures, with a focus on biological decontamination of personnel, equipment, and terrain, based on the experience recently gained in decontamination missions carried out across Romania as part of the efforts to limit the spread of the new coronavirus infection. The whole team will also share lessons learned from missions carried out in support of central and local authorities in order to prevent and limit the effects of CBRN-related incidents or events occured nationwide, while focusing on support functions assigned to the Ministry of National Defense.

Recently, Romanian military and civilian medical personnel provided support to the Republic of Moldova for limiting the effects of SARS-CoV-2 spread, within the overall support measures undertaken by our country within the Strategic Partnership for European Integration of the Republic of Moldova. Similarly, under the auspices of the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union, the Romanian Government sent civilian doctors and nurses in support of the Italian medical system, in the context of measures to combat the epidemic in Milan metropolitan area.

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Strengthening the Strategic Partnership with the USA is a major objective of Romania's foreign and defense policy. The defense area is a basic pillar of this partnership.

The Romanian US Strategic Partnership was launched on July 11, 1997, during the visit of the US President W.J. Clinton to Romania, and was updated by the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century between Romania and the USA, adopted on September 13, 2011. The document confirms the excellent evolution of the bilateral relations and the common interest of both parties in the development of various areas of cooperation. Bilateral cooperation between Romania and the USA takes place on the following coordinates: political dialogue, security, economy, science and technology, research, education, culture.

The cooperation between Romania and the State of Alabama is carried out under the auspices of the State Partnership Program launched in 1993, a program coordinated by the US European Command (USEUCOM).

To date, more than 200 bilateral actions have been carried out between Romania and Alabama, focusing on increasing interoperability between military structures, NATO standards, promoting stability at government level, assisting in the development of democratic institutions and market economy mechanisms, support for civilian authorities, provision of humanitarian aid, as well as support in the processes of deployment and support of Romanian military detachments in theaters of operations.

The Press Office