New military cooperation agreement between Greece and Romania

Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor and his Greek counterpart, Panos Kammenos, signed an agreement on 9 March, in Bucharest, that will allow identification and exploitation of new opportunities for military collaboration between the two states.

"Greece is an important ally of Romania in the region, we are part of South-Eastern Europe, at the confluence of the southern segment of the allied eastern flank with the eastern segment of NATO's southern flank. That is why I believe the visit of the Greek Defense Minister to Bucharest is so much more important as it provided us with the opportunity to discuss about the challenges we are confronted with and, particularly, about how we can jointly approach the most appropriate solutions. We concluded an excellent round of discussions and we had a fruitful exchange of opinions, regarding both the security situation in the common interest areas, and the specific challenges that each of our countries is facing. We talked about how we can consolidate regional cooperation, starting from the most recent developments, with a focus on the security situation in the Western Balkans and the extended Black Sea area, to developments in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as well as the evolutions on the southern flank, in the Aegean Sea and the east of the Mediterranean Sea, generated by the crisis in Syria and the refugee crisis", Mihai Fifor said.

Romanian Minister underlined the importance of signing a new defense cooperation agreement with the Defense Ministry of the Hellenic Republic. "This framework agreement not only brings the old document that has been signed eight years ago to the parameters adapted to the present, but I am also positive that it will give a new thrust and a wider dimension to the bilateral military relations between our states", Fifor said.

Minai Fifor also pointed out that he informed his Greek counterpart about the important stage the Romanian Armed Forces are going through – consolidating their own defense capabilities - marked by significant acquisitions and modernizations of the armament and battle technique systems.

"I noticed the similar interest in developing some acquisition programs meant to contribute both to the development of the national defense industries and to an intensification of the industrial cooperation between the two states in the defense area. It is also the reason why the official delegation of Minister Kammenos includes representatives of the Hellenic defense industry", Fifor also said.

Another topic was deepening exchange of information between the specialist structures of the two armies. "We have committed together to deepen the information exchange between the specialist structures of our armies, which will lead to a better knowledge of the regional security situation and to the early warning on the threats generated by the complexity of the current security environment, the ethnic and/or religious radicalism, terrorism, illegal arms trafficking", Fifor pointed out.

Next NATO summit scheduled for July in Brussels was another matter that has been approached, Fifor added.

"There are about four months left until the July NATO Summit, therefore we can say we are on a straight line in preparing the agenda. I have discussed with the Greek Defense Minister about our countries’ positions regarding the main topics, particularly on consolidating NATO presence in the region in a balanced approach of the two flanks. We identified common stands regarding the long-term adaptation of the Alliance, on a military, political and institutional dimension, the consolidation of an efficient deterrence and defense posture, for counteracting the threats to the allies' security, regardless of their origin", Fifor explained.

Romanian and Greek Defense Ministers have both committed to enhance cooperation between the allied structures on their territories and Mihai Fifor thanked the Hellenic Minister for the support he has granted in making operational the two allied command structures hosted on Romania's territory, by assuming some posts in the Multinational Division South - East Command (MND-SE) and the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU).

Minister Panos Kammenos said that over the recent years, Romania and Greece have collaborated very well, have intensified their relations within NATO and the EU, and also at bilateral level, mainly in the defense area.

"I am positive that this cooperation will continue and we'll take it to another level of fulfillment. Our message today is that, within the framework provided by the European institutions and NATO, together we can consolidate the European defense and face the challenges that we are confronted with. We are positive that Greece and Romania can build an arc of security, together with other nations such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Israel and Egypt. (...) It is a message for the European Union that we are ready to contribute to the defense projects and through this to provide jobs to the citizens of our states. We'll work together for peace and for peacekeeping and we do this while respecting the international laws and agreements," Panos Kammenos said.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei