Aurescu agrees with US officials that Black Sea region be tackled in Brussels NATO Summit

Presidential Advisor Bogdan Aurescu has discussed with high-ranking officials from the Pentagon that the Black Sea region must receive increased attention at the next NATO Summit in Brussels, informs a press release issued by Romania's Embassy to the US and sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday. 

Foreign Policy Presidential Advisor Bogdan Aurescu had a meeting on Tuesday, at the Pentagon, with Robert S. Karem, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, and with Thomas Goffus, Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policies, with Romania's Ambassador to the US, George Cristian Maior also attending a meeting. 

During the meeting, the officials evoked the deep and highly consistent cooperation on the military and defense lines, which is an important dimension of the bilateral Strategic Partnership, the quoted release mentions. 

The US official remarked the national programme for upgrading military capabilities and thanked for the example Romania is offering within the allied frame by allocating 2 percent of GDP for defense expenses. In this context, presidential adviser Bogdan Aurescu evoked the special attention that Romania pays to security and the responsibilities related to ensuring it, fully aware that, under the conditions of the current security environment, defense begins with the national territory. 

Bogdan Aurescu also stressed that Romania was in 2017 the first among the NATO allies in terms of increasing defense spending, by 45pct, with 33pct of the expenses last year having been made for the purchase of important military equipment. 

The discussion also tackled the agenda of the NATO Summit in Brussels, with the Romanian and American sides agreeing that it is necessary to pay increased attention to the Black Sea region at this summit. An in-depth exchange of views on the security situation in the Black Sea, including on conventional and hybrid threats, was made. 

Bogdan Aurescu presented Romania's objectives at the summit, focusing on ensuring the coherence of the Eastern Flank and strengthening the alliance's defense and deterrence, designing stability and relations with the Eastern and Southern neighbors of the Alliance and increasing NATO's role in combating terrorism. 

Presidential Advisor Bogdan Aurescu presented in detail the vision promoted by Romania concerning the coherence and cohesion of NATO's Eastern Flank, focusing on the unitary and integrated approach between the north and south of the Eastern Flank. The developments in NATO's command structure were also addressed, in preparation for the July summit. 

Within this framework, Presidential Advisor Bogdan Aurescu showed that Romania encourages the increase of the presence of US military and military equipment in Romania. 

At the same time, Bogdan Aurescu presented the stage of preparations for the Bucharest Format (B9) Summit, which will take place in early June in Warsaw, in preparation for the allied summit in July. 

He also mentioned the added value in the allied context of the informal Trilateral, Romania-Poland-Turkey, on security issues, as a relevant regional strategic cooperation format. 

Robert Karem expressed his appreciation for the B9 platform, whose meeting in the defense ministers' format he recently attended in Bucharest, showing that it is making a real contribution to the Alliance's goals. 

The meeting also occasioned an exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan, focusing on the Resolute Support mission of NATO, with the US official thanking Romania for its contribution to the stabilization efforts of the country, which is now the fourth-largest contributor in NATO.