Minister Angel Tilvar participated on Thursday in the first two sessions of the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels, the National Defense Ministry said in a release.

According to the cited document, the works of the sessions mainly focused on strengthening NATO’s global partnerships in a period characterized by growing global competition and „unprecedented” security challenges to allied states, with an „important” emphasis on the support offered to Ukraine in the context of Russia’s war of aggression.

„The first session included a debate dedicated to cooperation with the partner states in the Indo-Pacific region (Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand) and the European Union, which saw the participation, for the first time, of the Defense ministers of these states in a meeting of the North-Atlantic Council in this format. In his intervention, Minister Angel Tilvar emphasized the interconnections between global security issues and voiced appreciation for the contribution of these states to the support provided to Ukraine,” the release reads.

In the second session, dedicated to the NATO Council – Ukraine meeting and attended by EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, the Defense ministers sent a „firm” political message regarding the continuation of support for Ukraine.

„At the meeting, I reiterated Romania’s commitment to supporting Ukraine both through bilateral initiatives and through joint efforts, and I emphasized the importance of effective coordination between NATO and the EU to ensure the complementarity of support actions,” Minister Tilvar said.

Also on Thursday, Romania’s National Defense minister signed, in a separate event, the letter of intent for the establishment of multinational fleets of remotely piloted aircraft systems, so as to provide NATO with critical capabilities, with the signatories reaffirming support for the expansion of NATO’s AGS capability (NISRF – ISR) under the Alliance Ground Surveillance Program, the National Defense Ministry said.

AGERPRES