MApN specialists on mission to Alabama, DefMin Ciuca: Wehen needed, we are able to support each other

National Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca has stated that the mission of the National Defence Ministry (MApN) specialist team leaving for the U.S. the state of Alabama, in order to provide support to local authorities in the fight against COVID-19 proves that, when needed, Romania and the U.S. are able to support each other. "I believe that this action is in line with proving that, regardless of the situation, we are able to support each other and let's admit that, not so long ago, the U.S. provided support to our country, when, through a strategic flight, we managed to bring from South Korea, from Seoul, protection materials in order to support our country in the fight with the novel coronavirus," Ciuca said on Monday, at the Military Base 90, where the ceremony occasioned by the departure of the MApN specialist team took place. He added that it is just a gesture which proves the consistency of the strategic partnership the U.S. has with our country. "It is a voluntary gesture, which the volunteer doctors and civilian nurses are making urged by their commanders, to a matter started within each one, in order to prove that we carried out our missions together in the theaters of war," Ciuca added. The National Defence Minister mentioned that, not long ago, he had a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, in which he evoked the consistency of the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Romania. "We have had a partnership with the Alabama state for approximately 26 years. There are activities we carried out and we gained operational experience, and now we are able to support and also learn from the procedures and techniques that American doctors have implemented in the United States, and also to identify how we can develop this part of our collaboration in the area of CBRN," Ciuca said. A team of 15 MApN specialists, made up of five doctors, five nurses and five CBRN military specialists, left for the United States on Monday to provide support to Alabama authorities in the context of measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. "The MApN personnel will provide specialist support, for a period of approximately two weeks, to their American counterparts from several medical care and treatment units on the territory of the state of Alabama and will acquire information regarding the manner in which the methods to combat the infections with the novel coronavirus are implemented in the U.S., both in the medical area and in terms of the CBRN defence," a MApN release posted on the institution's website on Sunday informs. The cooperation between Romania and the state of Alabama is carried out under the aegis of the State Partnership Program launched in 1993, a program coordinated by the United States European Command (EUCOM). AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Alexandru Florea, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Cristina Zaharia)