Defence Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca and the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu, met on Wednesday, 6th October, at the MoND Headquarters, with the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff Lieutenant General Konstantinos Floros, as part of the visit the official Greek makes to Romania, over 5th-7th October.

The goal of the meeting was to diversify ways of cooperation by increasing the reciprocal participation of the soldiers in multinational exercises and, implicitly, by increasing interoperability at the level of Services through an exchange of experience in the ground-based air defence systems, as well as by an enhancement of cooperation in the regional initiatives format, such as the EU Tactical Battle Group HELBROC and the South Eastern Europe Brigade SEEBRIG. At the same time, the officials assessed the security situation from the extended region of the Black Sea and Western Balkans and the implementation of the NATO measures to increase reaction and deterrence capacity at regional level.

The defence minister emphasized the excellent level of Romanian-Hellenic cooperation, highlighting the fact that the cooperation relations between the two armed forces are based on the tight collaboration at Allied, European, regional and bilateral levels. Your visit is an excellent occasion to integrate the dialogue between the two states on the major bilateral cooperation lines and consolidate pragmatism at the level of the programs run together ', minister Ciuca stated.

Also, the officials talked about the security situation at international and regional levels, the Allied efforts to consolidate NATO's deterrence and defence posture on the Eastern Flank and the cooperation among the EU.

Lieutenant General Petrescu emphasized the excellent level of cooperation between the two armed forces, appreciating that strategic location, geographical proximity of the two states, the fact that they share the NATO and EU values, the historical and cultural connections between the two states as well as the cooperation under NATO's umbrella and within EU translate into an effective integration of Romanian and Greek soldiers within the Allied defensive structures and modern European tactical battle groups and participation in the joint training activities and military operations and missions led by the two international bodies .

At the same time, the Romanian Chief of Defence emphasized that the joint training is the key-element for the increase of interoperability of forces. This year, in spite of the pandemics, there was an increase of the number of exercises, especially in the naval field. The major training events Sea Shield and Ariadne led to the enhancement of reciprocal trust, cohesion and understanding between the forces. I firmly claim that EU-NATO cooperation is essential in order to ensure an adequate response of the European states to the current security threats. Preserving European and regional security depends on the Allied approach of the defensive framework, which includes the defence and deterrence posture by consolidating the Forward Presence on the entire Eastern Flank of NATO, Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu concluded.

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The schedule of the visit of the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff also included a meeting with the soldiers of the HQ Multinational Division South East. On Thursday, 7th October, General Floros will participate in the training activities executed by the soldiers of the 2nd Mountain Brigade Sarmisegetusa, in their area of responsibility from Brasov County.

The Press Office