Romania - NATO expert meeting in Bucharest examines 2017 - 2018 defence capabilities

The Romania - NATO expert meeting taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bucharest is an important stage in the analysis of defence capabilities under the NATO defence planning process, the National Defence Ministry (MApN) said in a release.

The two-day event looks at "the extent to which NATO's political goals, level of ambition and associated capability targets have been met," for the "directions for the next defence planning cycle" to be subsequently outlined.

"The expert consultations envisage medium to long-term plans, multiannual budget allocations, and the way commitments are being fulfilled. The findings of this examination will be approved by the NATO defence ministers at their June meeting," MApN said.

The Defence Ministry emphasizes that Romania stays committed to developing the capabilities required by the Alliance to carry out all missions, "in line with NATO's level of ambition," thus meeting both national security requirements and those specific to the regional and Euro-Atlantic level.

"The budget allocated to the National Defence Ministry for 2018 represents two percent of GDP, and funds for the procurement of major equipment account for about 35 percent of the total budget, well above the 20 percent recommended by NATO. Among this year's endowment priorities are the Himars long-range rocket launching system, the second Patriot system, the multi-purpose corvette, and the anti-ship mobile missile launcher, which have all the funding ensured," according to the same statement.

MApN informs that Romania is represented at the debates by experts of the Defence policy, Planning and International relations Department, of the Defence General Staff, the force categories and of the Support Commands, with the participation of representatives of both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the Ministry for Internal Affairs.

"The end of the event will be marked by a bilateral meeting of the Secretary of State for Defence policy, Planning and International relations Mircea Dusa, and Director of the NATO Defence Planning, Defence Policy and Planning Division Paul Savereux," the release informs. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Rodica State)