State Secretary for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations, Simona Cojocaru, participated as speaker in the Black Sea Security Summit round table, organized on Friday, 1 July, at Constanta, by the US Congress Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission).

The event, co-chaired by Senator Roger F. Wicker and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is organized in Romania for the first time and is meant to emphasize the strategic relevance of the Black Sea, especially in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine.

The state secretary thanked the Helsinki Commission members for the special attention paid to the security from Black Sea area, which is an extremely important objective both for Romania and the entire Euro-Atlantic region.

In her allocution, Simona Cojocaru pointed out the historical relevance of the Madrid NATO Summit, where a new Strategic Concept of the Alliance was adopted, which describes the Black Sea as a strategic interest area.

Also, the MoND official emphasized the importance of the allied decision of having an overall and balanced approach on the entire Eastern Flank, this being the most effective way of defending each centimeter of allied territory. The officials also saluted the United States' and France's augmented troops and military equipment contributions.

With regard to the Russian Federation's aggressive war against Ukraine, the state secretary pointed out that that this causes a humanitarian disaster, with over 8 million refugees, multidimensional crises and indiscriminated attacks against the civilians as well as the premises of an energetic and good crisis.

At the end of the round table, the Romanian official saluted the excellent cooperation between Romania and the United States of America in the field of security and defence, which is also noticed in the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the USA, this month marking 25 years since its signing.

As part of the Black Sea Security Summit, State Secretary Simona Cojocaru had a bilateral meeting with Yordan Bozhilov, the Bulgarian Deputy Defence Minister.

The two officials talked about regional security and Romania's taking over of the South-Eastern Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) Chairmanship in the second part of 2023. The SEDM Chairmanship is currently held by Bulgaria.

The Romanian official expressed her wish to continue running the projects initiated by the Bulgarian Chairmanship and her commitment of increasing the relevance of this cooperation format.

The Press Office