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The Minister of National Defense, Vasile Dincu, had a bilateral meeting on Sunday, at the headquarters of the 57th Air Base Mihail Kogălniceanu, southeastern Romania, with Florence Parly, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, the two officials discussing, mainly, about the extremely tense security situation on the European continent, the crisis generated by the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and about the implementation of the decisions on strengthening the Allied presence on NATO's eastern flank, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) informs.
According to the source, Minister Vasile Dincu thanked his French counterpart for the second visit to Romania since the beginning of this year, ''which demonstrates France's commitment to strengthening the deterrence and defense posture on NATO's eastern flank and to strengthening allied security in the Black Sea'', according to Agerpres.
Vasile Dincu welcomed France's announcement regarding the positioning of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean Sea, for carrying out air police and surveillance missions in our region, including over Romania, stressing that "this action represents a real measure of deterring any aggression".
The two officials reviewed the stage of implementation of NATO's decisions on the activation of the Gradual Response Plans and the deployment of elements of the NATO Response Force in support of the strengthening of the collective defense posture on the eastern flank.
The Romanian Minister of Defense stressed "the seriousness of the situation generated by the Russian intervention in Ukraine, which requires us to act now", pointing out that the unprecedented measures decided at NATO level are "defensive and aimed at strengthening the security of the eastern flank of the Alliance".
In this context, the Romanian dignitary pointed out the steps taken at national level dedicated to supporting Ukraine, but also the decision of the national authorities to supplement the budget allocated to defense from 2 to 2.5 pct of GDP, which will allow the adoption of additional measures to strengthen the national defense capacities, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Vasile Dîncu stressed the importance of maintaining a high level of Romanian-French military cooperation.
"Strengthening bilateral military relations can also act as an example and an important incentive to raise the level of cooperation in other key areas for Romania and France, such as the economic and industrial field, especially with regard to the defense industry, as well as in other directions where there is a long tradition of collaboration between our countries," said the Romanian Minister of Defense.
