On Friday, 3rd September, State Secretary for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations, Simona Cojocaru, had a meeting with Guillaume Ollagnier, Head of Division for Europe, America & Multilateral Action, Ministry of Defence, France, in the presence of the French Ambassador to Bucharest, Laurence Auer.

During the meeting organized as part of the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum 2021, the officials approached the security situation from the Black Sea region, current topics listed on NATO and EU's agenda on the reflection process adjacent to the development of the New NATO Strategic Concept and EU's Strategic Compass as well as relevant aspects of the bilateral cooperation process.

In her allocution, State Secretary Cojocaru emphasized the importance of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries, the relevance of the Black Sea security in the Euro-Atlantic Security architecture as well as the potential of the two reflection processes developed by NATO and EU with a view of establishing the future of the two organizations in the field of security and defence. Also, the official highlighted our country's efforts in the operational field within NATO and EU, of hosting NATO multinational structures on Romanian territory and the special attention our country pays to resilience, as a first line of the defence.

To conclude her allocution, State Secretary Cojocaru reiterated Romanian party's appreciation for the contribution made by France in the implementation of the deterrence and defence measures at the Black Sea and the importance of continuing the joint participation in military exercises and training activities at bilateral and multinational levels in order to increase interoperability among the allied states' armed forces.

In his turn, the French party approached relevant aspects on the Black Sea security, emphasizing the importance of the processes that are to be reviewed within the NATO Strategic Concept and of the 2030 NATO Refection Process. The operational commitments from Sahel were also approached and the importance of the Strategic Compass highlighted as a basic defence paper, which is to be adopted during the French Presidency of the EU Council, together with the potential and value of the EU's initiatives in the field of defence.

The Press Office