Romania will continue to provide all necessary support in its role as the host nation for the NATO Battle Group in Romania, Romanian Defence Minister Angel Tilvar told French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad on Thursday.

According to a message Minister Tilvar posted on Facebook, the discussions in Bucharest focused on cooperation within NATO, particularly the strengthening of the NATO Battle Group in Romania, where France is the framework nation.

„Cooperation with our strategic French partner continues its upward trend. The presence of France alongside soldiers from Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain represents a strong signal of allied solidarity and a recognition of the strategic role of the Black Sea region. Romania will continue to provide all the necessary support in its role as the host nation for the NATO Battle Group in Romania,” the Romanian minister added.

In anticipation of decisions that will be made by allied leaders at the upcoming Summit in The Hague in June, the two officials discussed the importance of ensuring security in the Black Sea region. An essential aspect of the discussions was the continued support for partners in this area, namely Ukraine and Moldova, according to a National Defence Ministry (MApN) press release.

„Given the intensification of hybrid actions by the Russian Federation in the Black Sea region and along the entire eastern flank of the Alliance, we consider it necessary to maintain collective and robust countermeasures on the allied agenda, including in preparation for the upcoming NATO Summit,” the National Defence minister is quoted as saying.

Additionally, Angel Tilvar and Benjamin Haddad addressed topics related to cooperation within the European Union, as efforts are being made to identify concrete ways to strengthen defence capabilities at the EU level, including with respect to preparations for the first White Paper on European defence.

AGERPRES