State Secretary for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations, Simona Cojocaru, participated in the South-Eastern Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM), in the video-conference format, on Wednesday, 14th October.

In her allocution, the state secretary emphasized the need to increase the level of involvement of the members states in the SEDM projects, the importance of continuing and extending their implementation and the need to adapt the initiative and calibrate it so as to achieve an adequate answer to the new types of threats and challenges specific to the current security environment, at regional and international levels.

The reunion agenda also included an assessment of the status of each SEDM project development, the most important being the Multinational Peace Force South-Eastern Europe (MPFSEE), materialized in the South-Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG), with a special focused placed on brigade's potential participation in several UN, NATO or EU-led peace-keeping missions.

At the end of the reunion, the representatives of the member states adopted a Joint Declaration expressing their agreement in supporting the consolidation efforts and development of the SEDM Initiative, by identifying new cooperation opportunities in the field of security and defence.

The Press Office