The minister of National Defense, Angel Tilvar, and the Chief of the Defense Staff, general Daniel Petrescu, met on Thursday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, with the Chief of the General Staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces, Admiral Antonio Silva Ribeiro, the Defense Ministry (MapN) informs in a press release, according to Agerpres.

The discussion agenda focused on the state of cooperation in the field, the evolution of the security situation in Eastern Europe, as well as on the joint training program. Also, the dialogue concerned the project of training pilots and technical support personnel from the Romanian Air Force in the Portuguese Republic.

Minister Tilvar emphasized the importance of the presence of the Portuguese military staff in our country both from an operational point of view and from the point of view of transatlantic and European solidarity in the face of the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. He appreciated the contribution of the Portuguese contingent, together with the Polish contingent and the one from the Republic of North Macedonia, as well as the other allied soldiers from the Southeast Multinational Brigade to the new allied defensive architecture, which also contributes to the strengthening of Romania’s defense and security.

„The excellent relations with the Portuguese allies have the prerequisites for expansion, once the agreement on cooperation in the field of defense that we signed last year comes into force. We are in the stage of boosting the procedures for the ratification of this agreement, which will contribute to the development of relations in all the three formats: bilateral, NATO and EU”, declared the Romanian minister.

General Daniel Petrescu reiterated his appreciation for the effort of his Portuguese colleagues to strengthen the deterrence and defense position in the eastern area of NATO and the European Union. The joint program continues to increase the training of the forces.

„The training that began with the deployment of the Portuguese contingent led to an increase in the interoperability and reaction capacity of the structures. We will keep the cadence of exercises and training. We are interested in the participation of the Portuguese Air Force in the air policing service in our country and in the more consistent participation of the Romanian military staff, together with Portuguese troops, in missions and operations of NATO, the EU and the UN”, said the chief of defense.

The series of talks was preceded by the ceremony of handing over the „National Order of the Star of Romania in the rank of Commander, with the sign of peace, for the military” to Admiral Antonio Silva Ribeiro, an order conferred by the President of Romania, as a sign of high appreciation of the constant interest and support given to the country our.

The visit of the high-ranking military official to our country, between February 1-3, takes place at the invitation of the Chief of the Defense Staff, and the program also included the 1st Training Battalion from Caracal, the deployment unit of the Portuguese contingent, part of the Multinational South-East Brigade.

Agerpres