Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, on Wednesday said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization regards the Black Sea and Balkan regions as being of „strategic relevance”, according to Agerpres.

He sent a video message for the opening ceremony of the BSUN-BUA International Congress – „Dialogue and Cooperation in the Black Sea and Balkan Regions.”

„We are at a moment of reflection in history – Russia’s war against Ukraine. The implications of this war on the European and international order systems have not yet been fully assessed. But in Europe, things will not be the same as in the last decades. That’s why here, at NATO, we look at the Black Sea and Balkan regions as areas of strategic relevance, in terms of security and for the future European architecture,” Mircea Geoana pointed out.

He said that the participants in the congress are „the intellectual elite of some regions that have often been punished by geography and that have often been victims of history.”

„Now maybe the time has come for our region to play its true role, as a co-contributor and co-author of a new European and international system that is under construction,” said the Deputy Secretary General of NATO.

He underscored that political consensus is also needed in this approach and appreciated that „this is an opportunity that should not be missed.”

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Mircea Geoana said that „Ukraine is fighting bravely for us as well.”

Agerpres