DefMin Ciuca says Romania should invest more of defence budget in local industry

National Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday that a large percentage of Romania's defence budget should be invested in the local industry, mentioning that there is a 10-year plan to equip the armed forces.

"It is a commitment to us that the budget of the Ministry of National Defence be committed in such a way that together with the Ministry of Economy, more precisely with the defence industry, we can use this money for the highest efficiency. It is also an opportunity at the level of the Ministry of Defence to identify those aggregation lines in such a way that the research and development of the relevant military institutions can be transposed as concretely as possible in a collaboration and development with the relevant industry," said Ciuca, who together with Prime Minister Ludovic Orban and several ministers visited the Cugir Mechanical Plant today.

Ciuca said that there is a 10-year plan for equipping the armed forces.

"We have a plan for the next 10 years, so there is forecast and planning for both time and funds, so that the local defence industry can provide what the army needs, and we are also in talks with the Ministry of Economy, with ROMARM, in order to identify all the other lines of collaboration, so that once again the 2 percent defence spending may get real, as we have committed ourselves under the governing programme and also as undertaken at the level of the Ministry of National Defence, as much as possible. That will be true, but not to say starting tomorrow, but little by little, step by step, until the completion of this 10-year plan; we should have a higher percentage invested in the Romanian industry," added Ciuca.