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Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos stated on Thursday that Romania insisted on increasing the NATO presence in the Black Sea and that advanced talks with Bulgaria and Turkey on this matter are in progress. "It was Romania's initiative and Romania has been very active in building this possibility of a presence [of NATO] in the Black Sea. We are aware that in order for this structure to exist, the implication of other partners in the Black Sea is needed. We are in quite advanced talks with our Bulgarian neighbours and our Turkish friends to build together this NATO presence. Once it is built, we hope to have participation from other allies in these exercises. Our intention is to present this project at the Warsaw NATO Summit, a topic I've already talked with the President and with the Secretary General," Ciolos said in a joint press conference with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
In his turn, Stoltenberg said he talked with President Klaus Iohannis a sufficient presence of NATO both in the Black Sea and on land. NATO's naval presence in the Black Sea has been increased already, as a saftey measure on the eastern flank of the Alliance following the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and Russia's destabilizing behaviour in eastern Ukraine, he explained.
