The Chief of Defence Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, participated in the NATO Military Chiefs of Defence Meeting, 18-19 January, accompanied by the Finnish and Swedish Chiefs of Defence, as invitees. The military leaders talked about the defence and deterrence posture by increasing the reaction capacity, capability development and increasing interconnection of defence plans with the NATO ones.

In the opening session, the Chairman of the of the Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, emphasized the fundamental changes of the modern war following the lessons learned from the armed conflict led by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. During the meeting, the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Philippe Lavigne, argued in favor of the need of an accelerated implementation of the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept and the Warfare Development Agenda, while the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, presented the implementation manner of the Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area as well as of the New Force Structure.

The Chiefs of Defence evaluated NATO's reaction and force sustainability, exchanged opinions on the military stocks, the prepositioning of the equipment and the capability development based on the collective defence requirements. The officials participating in the NATO MC Session appreciated that the reaction and sustainability capacity are peacetime activities which shape the deterrence and defence efficiency.

During the working sessions, General Daniel Petrescu had a series of interventions. The Romanian official emphasized, among other things, that, due to the fast pace of technological development, a further training of the human resource is needed in order to operate the modern combat platforms. In the current context, in order to have an optimum force structure- considering the current available resources-we need to make a careful assessment of the threat spectrum posed to the security environment. In the session dedicated to the Allied operation from Kosovo, KFOR, General Daniel Petrescu appreciated the importance of the impartial approach of NATO throughout the two decades of missions conducted in Kosovo, which led to the trust of the local communities in KFOR. I restated the Romanian Armed Forces' commitment in maintaining stability in the Western Balkans. Our country remained an important contributor to KFOR both through the military structures deployed to this theater of operations and the significant number of troops making up the strategic and operational reserve of the mission. Partners from Armenia, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Republic of Moldova, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine took part in this session talks.

The working session held on the NATO Iraqi Mission was also attended by operational partners from Australia, Finland and Sweden. The chiefs of defence talked about the continuous efforts made to help Iraq in order to promote stability, consolidate the institutions acting in the defence and security field and counter terrorism. At the same time, the Military Committee recognized the importance of continuing the non-combat counseling and of the defence capacity consolidation mission.

Also, the chiefs of defence were briefed on the latest developments from Ukraine by the Ukrainian military representative, Major General Serhii Salkutan.

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As part of the activity conducted at the NATO Headquarters, General Daniel Petrescu had meetings with NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoana, the Chairman of the NATO MC, Admiral Rob Bauer, and the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Mark A. Milley. Also, the Chief of Defence Staff had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Montenegro, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The awarding ceremony of the National Order of Merit, in the rank of Commander offered to the Romanian Chief of Defence Staff by the President of the Republic of France was also part of the Brussels agenda. The Chief of Defence of the French Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, handed over General Daniel Petrescu this distinction of the French state. The chief of the French state awards civilian and military personalities for special achievements, through the offering of the National Order of Merit in various fields of activity. During the festivity, the French counterpart emphasized the excellent bilateral military relations, materialized in the deployment of the Collective Defence Battle Group, with France as framework nation.

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NATO Military Committee has the role of providing recommendations to the North-Atlantic Council on the ways the Alliance can respond to the global security challenges. The NATO MC in the Chiefs of Defence Format meets twice a year at the NATO Headquarters from Brussels and once a year in one of the Alliance's member countries. The routine activity is accomplished by national Military Representatives who are assigned on a permanent basis at the NATO Headquarters from Brussels.

The Press Office