Romania’s Defence Minister Vasile Dincu said on Wednesday that the ongoing war in Ukraine has fundamentally and in the long term changed the security paradigm in Europe, being a „strategic shock” to European stability, according to Agerpres.

„Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine has fundamentally and long-term changed the security paradigm in Europe. This war is a strategic shock to European security and stability, but especially at a regional level. In the current security context, more than ever before, alliances, structured networks, become relevant. Just as NATO has proven its importance and relevance in the last nine months, I believe that bodies such as the Black Sea University Network and the Association of Balkan Universities are extremely important to our regions’ ecosystem. The Black Sea region has become, with the war in Ukraine, an area of maximum attention to NATO and not only, so it benefits from consistent security measures,” Dincu told an international congress in Bucharest that looks at cooperation in the regions of the Black Sea and the Balkans.

He added that the war started by Russia against Ukraine is also a lesson that must be learned in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, pointing to strengthening co-operation within NATO.

„As time goes by, this war is a lesson that must be learned in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, and one of the major lessons of this war regards strengthening dialogue and practical co-operation with partners in an alliance (. ..) I want to emphasise that, in the current context, collaboration between universities and military and civilian academic establishments is becoming increasingly more relevant. The prerequisites for co-operation between the military and civilian educational and research environments were created at NATO level, where this year, a fund for research and innovation was established – the DIANA Fund – in which all NATO members participate, and it mainly pursues the identification, development and implementation of technologies of dual military and civilian use.”

October 12-15, the University of Bucharest is the host of one of the most important events in the area of inter-university collaboration and co-operation in the Black Sea and Balkan regions, namely the BSUN-BUA International Congress, entitled „Dialogue and Cooperation in the Sea Regions Blacks and the Balkans”.

Organised by the Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN) and the Balkan Universities Association (BUA), the congress brings together in Bucharest more than 100 global experts in subjects of strategic interest, Romanian Government officials, rectors, representatives of the academia and public institutions as well as privately-owned companies in the field.

Agerpres