The Chief of the Defense Staff, general Daniel Petrescu, met, on Tuesday, at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defence, with his counterpart from the Kingdom of Sweden, general Micael Byden, the discussions focusing on the regional security situation and the allied measures to strengthen the deterrence and defense position, respectively the development of the strategic dialogue between the two armies and the cooperation applied in the joint training plan, write Agerpres.

According to a press release sent by the Ministry of Defense, the two officials analyzed the status of the PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) projects within the EU initiative in the field of defense and the participation of the two armies in the missions and the Tactical Battle Groups of the European Union.

General Daniel Petrescu emphasized that the army of the Kingdom of Sweden is part of the category of NATO’s closest partner armies.

„We share the same values and respond together to the same security challenges in Europe. The war brought back to the European continent by the Russian Federation also generated a significant allied reconfiguration through Finland’s accession to NATO. We expect that, in the near future, we will train together as NATO allies with the Swedish military too. We are open for projects to expand military cooperation in all formats, bilaterally, EU and NATO,” said general Daniel Petrescu, according to the quoted source.

The visit of the high Swedish military official to our country took place at the invitation of the Chief of the Defense Staff. The delegation’s program included visits to the South-East Multinational Division Command and to the Headquarters of the Air and Naval Forces in the Bucharest garrison, the representatives of the Ministry of Defense mention.