Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Toiu, reaffirmed, on Thursday, Romania's firm commitment to accelerating the process of consolidating the national defense industry, in accordance with the decision taken at the NATO Summit in The Hague to reach 5% of GDP for defense spending by 2035.
Minister Toiu participated in the "Making the case for investing in defense" session within the NATO Industry Forum 2025, organized by the Supreme Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and the Defense Industry, Innovation and Armament Division within the NATO International Staff, with the support of the Ministry of National Defense.
"The session aimed at a substantial and applied exchange of ideas on current challenges regarding investments in the defense industry, namely close cooperation between governments and industrial actors. The participants advocated for increased investments, in line with the defense commitments assumed at a political level within NATO by the Allies", informs a press release from the Foreign Ministry (MAE).
On this occasion, Oana Toiu reiterated Romania's firm commitment to accelerating the process of consolidating the national defense industry, in accordance with the commitment assumed as an Allied state at the NATO Summit in The Hague to reach 5% of GDP for defense spending by 2035.
She emphasized the need for a closer public-private dialogue, which would provide predictability, the fulfillment of commitments assumed at a political level, as well as benefits from an economic point of view, including new jobs.
The foreign minister also supported paying special attention to investments in dual-use technologies and projects, on innovation, given the increasing share of new technologies in the field of defense and topics of strategic importance, such as cybersecurity.
The Romanian official also noted and appreciated NATO's efforts and role in the last year, as well as NATO-EU cooperation in revitalizing investments in the defense industry.
Minister Oana Toiu mentioned that Romania is in the process of finalizing the national investment plan for the SAFE instrument, within which our country received the second largest allocation of funds.
The session was also attended as keynote speakers by Morten Brantzaeg (CEO and President, NAMMO AS), Raymond Piselli (Vice President, International Business, Lockheed Martin) and Jim Carter (Director General Commercial and Industry, UK Ministry of National Defence).
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