Defense Minister Angel Tilvar met on Tuesday with his Slovenian counterpart Marjan Sarec on the sidelines of the Warsaw Security Forum taking place October 2-4; talks also looked at concrete opportunities to deepen military cooperation both in a regional context and within NATO or the EU, write Agerpres.

„I appreciate our countries’ defense cooperation I’d want us to further bolster, both by intensifying the political and military dialogue, and by deepening practical cooperation, such as joint military exercises or cooperation in the field of the defense industry. I thanked Minister Sarec for his country’s decision to participate with troops in NATO’s multinational defense battlegroup stationed in Romania,” Minister Angel Tilvar said, as cited in a release.

Amid the Russian Federation’s war of aggression in Ukraine, the two ministers discussed the continuation of Romania and Slovenia’s multidimensional support to Kyiv, with the Romanian DefMin highlighting the need to pay special attention to the Republic of Moldova, a state in the immediate vicinity of the conflict.

In a regional context, Romania attaches great importance to holding the rotational chairmanship of the South-East Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM) process, highlighting the assumed goals and the promotion of new projects, such as resilience or the acceptance of new members, while counting on Slovenian support in the decision-making process.

The particular importance that Romania attaches to the Western Balkans was also emphasized, as Romania has considerably increased its contribution with personnel and forces to the Althea mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is prepared to take the mission’s command in 2025. Also, Romania is paying increased attention to the current security developments in Kosovo, the National Defense Ministry shows.

„We consider it is very important that we maintain our support for ensuring stability and security in the Western Balkans. We see these days how volatile the security situation is. Romania remains firmly engaged in the region, as the presence of a significant number of Romanian troops to NATO and EU missions and operations clearly proves it,” said Minister Tilvar.