On a trip to Romania on Wednesday as part of a Black
Sea tour that also included Georgia and Ukraine, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin
had talks with his Romanian counterpart Nicolae Ciucă about strengthening allied
cooperation to discourage Russia’s hostile actions in the region. Lloyd said
the US would continue to provide assistance to consolidate the maritime capabilities
of several countries, including Romania, stressing that Back Sea security and
stability are also in his country’s national interest and are critical with
respect to the security of NATO’s eastern flank. He explained that there is a
vulnerability here to Russian aggression, as seen from what is happening in
eastern Ukraine and the occupation of parts of Georgia, the militarisation of
the Black Sea and the provocative actions on air and at sea. Lloyd said Russia’s
destabilising actions in the Black Sea area reflect its ambitions to regain a dominant
position in the region and prevent the creation of a united, free and peaceful
Europe. He also stressed that his country would continue to work with its
partners in the region.
The Romanian defence minister reiterated that the Back
Sea is and will continue to be an important pillar of European and
Euro-Atlantic security and spoke about the strategic partnership with the US
and the joint positions identified together with his counterpart with respect
to NATO’s adjustment to current challenges. Nicolae Ciucă:
We want the Alliance to remain strong and capable to
protect its members and address their concerns, so for Romania the
trans-Atlantic relationship remains an important pillar of our defence policy. We
will continue bilateral consultations. The objectives are clear: we need to
consolidate our positions in the run-up to the summit of June 2022 and to be
able to implement the important projects on the agenda of bilateral cooperation
in the field of defence.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin also had talks with
president Klaus Iohannis about the importance of a solid trans-Atlantic
relationship so as to be able to manage common security challenges. The Romanian
president gave assurances that his country would continue to be a reliable
strategic partner and ally and stay committed to the political and military consolidation
of the North-Atlantic Alliance, including NATO’s deterrence and defence posture
on its eastern flank and the Black Sea region. The US official also paid tribute
to the Romanian military who served in Afghanistan and visited the military base
in Mihail Kogălniceanu, in south-eastern Romania. (CM)
