In 1945 Romania was solider with the Czech people, in 1968 she condemned and refused the participation in the foreign intervention during the Prague incidents and today, Czech Republic is side by side with Romania on the way of integration within the European Union, the fact appreciated by all the Romanians stated minister of National Defense, Teodor Atanasiu, during the meeting in Prague with his Czech counterpart Karel Kuhnl, February 28, in the evening.

The two dignitaries approached the issues of the stage of bilateral military relations and participation in the missions of reconstruction, peacekeeping and stability in the Western Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.

A special attention was given to the cooperation within NATO and the European Union, in the regional initiatives Romania and Czech Republic are part and stressed on the fact that the two countries' armed forces are successfully cooperating in different areas, such as: policy of defense, juridical, medical and military education.

They also had talks on different issues related to the expertise the two armed forces can share each other in different domains such as peacekeeping, military communication and NBC defense.

Minister Atanasiu presented to his counterpart few aspects on the present reform of the Romanian armed forces and declared the Czech specialists expertise in management of personnel and human resources as very useful having in view the fact the Czech Republic already ended the process of professionalization of the armed forces. Learning from our partners and allies expertise of professionalization, we could avoid the mistakes, the lost of time and funds Minister of National Defense stated.

Appreciating the open character of talks, Mr. Karel Kuhnl declared at the end: I thank you for being here in 1945, for not being here in 1968 and for being in 2006 for working together again for the benefit of our peoples.

The official visit of the Romanian delegation headed by minister Atansiu continues today with o series of official meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and the visit in a Czech air base.

MoND Press Office