Romania is ready to honour its obligations to maintain security, National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar said on Tuesday in Pristina, where he met with the command team of NATO’s peacekeeping mission Kosovo Force (KFOR), to which Romania is making an important contribution, and with the Romanian military on mission in this theater of operations.

The minister is visiting the Western Balkans until Wednesday, at the start of the new rotation of a large part of the military detachments deployed in Pristina, in Kosovo, and Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the first part of his visit to Pristina, Angel Tilvar had a meeting with Major General Ozkan Ulutas, Commander of KFOR, during which the main objectives of the peacekeeping and settlement mission in Kosovo were discussed, with emphasis on Romania’s firm commitment to supporting the security efforts in the Western Balkans region and the importance of the KFOR operation in ensuring a stable climate in this strategic area.

„As a member of NATO and the European Union, Romania is ready to honour its obligations and support the allied efforts to maintain security and promote peace in the Western Balkans region,” said the Romanian minister.

In the second part of the day, Minister Tilvar met with the Romanian military personnel serving in the military bases Camp Film City and Camp Novo Selo in Pristina.

The minister of National Defence emphasised the importance that the MApN leadership attaches to ensuring optimal conditions for carrying out activities at the highest standards. The minister also emphasised the excellent cooperation between the Romanian and allied troops deployed in the KFOR Operation.

„The Kosovo Force command team’s appreciation of your activity in this theater of operations is excellent and makes us very proud. You are contributing, through the solid results of your work, which you do with professionalism, competence and loyalty to your country, to the consolidation of the good image of our army and Romania,” Defence minister Tilvar told the soldiers.

He reaffirmed our country’s commitment to the stability of the Western Balkans region, emphasising that Romania will continue to contribute to international peacekeeping efforts as long as necessary.

„The lesson Romania has learned over the past three decades of contributing to peace enforcement and peacekeeping missions and operations is that security is achieved by countering challenges wherever they arise, in order not to allow instability to get close to home,” the minister concluded.

On Wednesday, Angel Tilvar will be in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he will meet with his counterpart, Zukan Helez, at the Defence Ministry headquarters, and at the Butmir military base, with the commander of EUFOR Operation Althea, the commander of the commander of the NATO Headquarters Sarajevo and the Romanian military deployed at the base.

The activity is part of the series of visits of the Ministry of National Defence’s leadership to the detachments on foreign missions, traditionally organised around the celebration of Romania’s Army Day, which is marked every year on October 25.

AGERPRES