Defence Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca met with Heidi Grant, Director of the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency, on Monday, 12th July, at the MoND Headquarters.

During the meeting, the American official informed the minister of national defence on the fact that Romania received from the United States of America the Dependable Undertaking (DU) status. This status will allow from now on the signing of the acquisition contracts for the military equipment without being necessary to make down payments. The running of the LOA government-to-government type contracts (Letters of Offer and Acceptance) will be possible through the quarterly scheduling of the payments.

Enrolling Romania on the list of the countries which benefit from the Dependable Undertaking status , within the programs run with the USA Government, is part of the recognition of the seriousness we handled the LOA procurement type contracts and it has a special intrinsic value, respectively the recognition of the trustworthy partner status. The installment payments for the future commitments will facilitate the reaching of the equipment procurement goals we established and will implicitly increase the security level of Romania, minister Ciuca emphasized.

Also, the two officials reviewed the technical-military cooperation programs developed in partnership , the Romanian minister restating our country's commitment to allocating 2% of the GDP for defence expenditures , out of which 20% for acquisition of major equipment and the implementation calendars of the major acquisition programs the budget.

The meeting with the Director of the for Defence Security Cooperation Agency is a continuation of the dialogue started in October 2020, in Washington DC, on the occasion of the official visit made by the minister of national defence to the Unites States of America.

The Press Office