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Romania's Defence Minister Mihai Fifor said Tuesday after the Chamber of Deputies passed a draft agreement for the purchase by Romania of Patriot missile systems that he hopes the contract with the US Administration will be signed next week, so that the deal may close on December 15.
He added that the passage of the bill shows that all the promises made under the strategic partnership with the United States are being fulfilled.
"Romania is thus showing that everything it has promised under a strategic partnership with the United States and NATO members is being accomplished; Romania is are able to spend the 2-percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the Romanian Parliament has approved in the national budget for defence. We are also prepared to continue with the acquisition of the second Patriot system next year, as well as with the acquisition [programmes approved by the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) and the Romanian Parliament," said Fifor.
He added that the bill came out in record time in Parliament.
"Today, we are reaching the goal we have set out to. The bill has passed through Parliament in a record time: yesterday in the Senate, today in the Chamber of Deputies; we are expecting President Iohannis to promulgate the law and sign the documents," added Fifor.
At a plenary session on Tuesday, the Chamber of Deputies passed, 279 to one and one abstention, a bill on surface-to-air defence capabilities for a strategic acquisition programme of surface-to-air missile systems. AGERPRES .
