Ceremony at Montgomery to mark three decades of State Partnership Program between the Romanian Armed Forces and Alabama National Guard

Being on an official visit to the United States of America, the Minister of National Defense, Angel Tîlvãr, participated, on Tuesday, April 4, in a ceremony organized for the first time at the Joint Forces Command Headquarters of the Alabama National Guard (ALNG) in Montgomery, to celebrate 30 years of cooperation within the State Partnership Program (SPP) between the Romanian Armed Forces and ALNG.

Over the last three decades, the State Partnership Program represented a platform for the progressive increase of cooperation between the Romanian and American military personnel.

In his speech, Minister Angel Tîlvãr highlighted the importance of joint training between the Romanian and American soldiers, which proved to be an essential factor in consolidating the Romania-US Strategic Partnership. “One of the main concerns of the present is the illegal, aggressive and unprovoked war of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Joint training must continue so that together we can defend democracy, the values we believe in, NATO's Eastern flank and, not least, maintain stability in the Black Sea region. I am confident in what we can do together, all the more so since we expand this collaboration.”

The ceremony in Montgomery marked the success of the three-decade collaboration between the Romanian Armed Forces and Alabama National Guard. In this context, the Commander of Alabama National Guard, Major General Sheryl Gordon, handed Minister Angel Tîlvãr the "Proclamation of recognition and congratulation for Alabama National Guard and the Romanian state for marking 30 years of partnership within the US State Partnership Program ", conferred by the Governor of Alabama State, Kay Ivey.

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The US State Partnership Program was initiated 30 years ago, after the fall of the Soviet Union, aiming at supporting the countries behind the former Iron Curtain through military cooperation. Currently, the program includes partnerships signed between 100 US nations and states, under the coordination of the US National Guard Bureau. The program aims to increase the interoperability and response capacity of US and partner forces in order to respond to a large spectrum of security challenges.

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The cooperation with ALNG, within the State Partnership Program, is one of the military instruments of the Romanian-US Strategic Partnership. The soundness of the of cooperation relations with the American military, including on the Romanian Armed Forces - ALNG component, represents one of the three pillars of our country's foreign and security policy that pursues the national interests of promoting stability in Europe.

The ceremony from the United States of America will be followed by a series of events celebrating the SPP between the Romanian Armed Forces and ALNG that will be organized in our country in June.

The Press Office