Premium
Romania and its allies have the most solid security guarantees in the context of the war in Ukraine, Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu said in a message on the occasion of NATO Day.
"NATO's fundamental role in ensuring the security of all allies, in defending the democratic values and peace on the entire allied territory becomes more obvious and more topical than ever. Today, when the use of illegal armed force becomes once more the instrument of an illegitimate attempt to influence the future of the European continent, Romania and its allies have the most solid security guarantees," Aurescu underscored, according to a Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES on Sunday.
He brought to mind that at NATO's Extraordinary Summit of March 24 the allies reconfirmed the primordial nature of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.
"Deepening cooperation in the security and defence are within the strategic partnership between NATO and the European Union represents an essential element in the transatlantic relation. Faced with the most serious security crisis of our generation, NATO has acted firmly and promptly. There have been activated NATO's Defence Plans and the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. Several allies deployed troops to Romania, either bilaterally or under NATO command," said Aurescu.
He highlighted an upcoming important period for advancing strategic projects of the Alliance, which Romania is involved in.
"The Madrid Summit of June represents an important moment for ensuring a consolidated, efficient and coherent posture of NATO, particularly on the Eastern Flank, on the long run. In the perspective of this Summit, we are playing an active role in the negotiation of NATO's new Strategic Concept. NATO's strategic vision on the next 10 years, at the minimum, must reflect, of a proper manner, the new security realities that NATO is confronted with, as well as the fact the Russia represents the main threat to the Alliance. At the same time, this vision must highlight the priority the Alliance grants to collective defence, as NATO's main task, for the long-term protection of the Euro-Atlantic security," Bogdan Aurescu conveyed.
The head of the Romanian diplomacy said that the new strategic concept must develop NATO's role as crisis manager.
"We'll grant special attention to the conceptual and practical increase in resilience and consolidation of the partners' defence capabilities, especially of those in the Eastern Neighbourhood. Moreover, we'll continue to allot a special importance to the consolidation of the transatlantic relation in the new Strategic Concept," Aurescu added.
He announced that, aiming at reaching these objectives, the Bucharest 9 (B9) Format Summit, which President Klaus Iohannis will host in Bucharest, ahead of the Madrid Summit, together with his Polish counterpart, will represent an opportunity for consultation and coordination among the allies on the Eastern Flank, in view of the important decisions to be made at the NATO heads of state and government meeting at the end of June.
"In the same direction, in a few days' time, at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, I will endorse the significant transformation and consolidation on permanent grounds of NATO's deterrence and defence posture on long term, especially on the Eastern Flank and at the Black Sea. At the same time, the demarches to ensure security are endorsed on a national level, included, Romania being one of the allies earmarking 2% of the GDP to defence and, as Romania's President Klaus Iohannis announced, in the current security context we'll increase this contribution to 2.5% of the GDP," Bogdan Aurescu also said.
NATO Day will also be marked by the Foreign Affairs Ministry by illuminating in blue the institution headquarters on Sunday, between 20:00 and 21:00.
