DefMin Fifor meets Spanish counterpart Robles Fernandez, SACEUR head Scaparrotti

In the context of the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, Romanian Defence minister Mihai Fifor met with his Spanish counterpart, Margarita Robles Fernandez, and with General Curtis Scaparrotti, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations in Europe (SACEUR).

The talks with his Spanish counterpart focused on the identification of the development directions of military cooperation, both bilaterally - within the framework of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries - and within the North Atlantic Alliance, the Ministry of National Defence (MapN) informs in a release sent on Thursday to AGERPRES.

Mihai Fifor expressed his appreciation for Spain's contribution to the strengthening of the allied defence in the Black Sea region, under the tailored Forward Presence (tFP), thus emphasizing the presence of the Spanish military ships in joint exercises in the Black Sea, the participation of the Spanish military in the exercises carried out under CJET (Combined Joined Enhanced Training), as well as the functions assumed within the NATO command and control structures on Romania's territory.

Minister Fifor also approached in his talks with minister Robles Fernandez, aspects referring to our country's offer to host a land command and control capability of army corps level (MNC-SE). The Spanish side voiced its support for Romania's offer to take shape and gave assurances as regards the maintenance of the contribution level to the reassurance measures within the tFP.

'The Spanish minister appreciated the high level of the two countries' dialogue and Romania's contribution to the measures of combating the security threats in the allied south flank. In context, the constant presence of the Romanian Naval Forces with the Sea Guardian operation in the Mediterranean Sea was underlined, the contribution to the NATO training mission in Iraq as well as the significant presence with 700 military in Afghanistan, within the Resolute Support Mission. In context, the Romanian Defence minister brought to mind the recent decision to supplement the troops that could be deployed in this operations theatre starting with 2019,' the MapN release adds.

During the meeting with the SACEUR head, General Curtis Scaparrotti, were tackled topics related to the security situation in the Black Sea region and the continuation of the implementation of the allied projects in the region agreed upon at the NATO Summit in July, MApN says

'Minister Mihai Fifor thanked SACEUR for the strong support in implementing the measures decided by the allies in all three dimensions of the (tailored Forward Presence ) tFP - terrestrial, air and naval. In context, he pointed at Romania's efforts to enhance the operational capacity of the SE Multinational Brigade in Craiova, reminding the talks that are taking place at present with the allied countries as regards the contribution with forces and the affiliation of the military structures, the most recent example being given by the National Guard of Alabama that has expressed its intention to affiliate a Fight Support company to the Craiova brigade,' the release specifies.

As regards the command and control land capability of army corps level (Multinational Corps - Southeast - MNC-SE), minister Fifor voiced his appreciation for the positive assessments carried out by SACEUR on Romania's offer and gave assurances that our country will make any efforts to materialize this very important initiative in the security equation at the Black Sea, the MApN informs.