MApN health support team returned from Alabama/ Zuckerman: We won't forget this act of kindness

The team of the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) who was on a health support mission in Alabama, USA in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, returned to the country on Wednesday, on which occasion the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Adrian Zuckerman, appreciated the Romanian gesture as an "act of kindness and help in difficult times".

We will not forget this act of kindness and help in difficult times. The work of this team has strengthened the extraordinary friendship and solidarity between the US and Romania. Our countries will always be together, for better or for worse, Zuckerman said at the reception of the specialists, which took place at Base 90 Air Transport in Otopeni (north of Bucharest).

At the same time, he also referred to the company that transported the MApN team.

I would like to thank the TAROM team - the pilots, the seafaring personnel, the mechanics - for helping this trip. Transport Minister Lucian Bode and his team deserve our gratitude for making the TAROM flight available. TAROM is an example of a Romanian business that needs support and needs to fly again as before. We need to make TAROM fly for a profit and hope to have direct flights to the United States, he said.

In this context, the diplomat spoke of the support that the US is prepared to give Romania for the recovery of the economy.

President Trump and the American people are committed to rebuilding the American economy, as are President Iohannis and Prime minister Orban to the Romanian economy. As friends and allies, we will help each other to be prosperous. Romania has no better friend than the US. We are committed to supporting Romania to rebuild its economy in 2020. It's not impossible. It's possible and it's going to happen, he added.

At the same time, Zuckerman said that "Romania's resources are many, but its most important resource is its people.

Romania's economy will grow once the people return to work. The free market system and competition must be allowed to flourish. State-owned companies must be released from government control so as to operate efficiently, profitably (...) The malignant forces of endemic corruption must be eliminated once and for all, the ambassador said.

For his part, the Minister of Defence, Nicolae Ciuca, has said that this mission of the Romanians is part of the Strategic Partnership Romania - USA.

"As far as relevance is concerned, it is very important for everything that the U S - Romania Strategic Partnership means, for everything that the availability of both the military means, but especially this part of our country's image, to help, to be able, whenever necessary, to be with those with whom we share the same values," Nicolae Ciuca emphasised.

The MApN team, having conducted a two-week mission to the US to provide support to the authorities of the state of Alabama, in the context of measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, had more than 25 missions in medical treatment centers, long-term care facilities and CBRN military defense training, according to ministry representatives.

The 15 military and civilians of the team work in the medical field - five physicians and five nurses who are part of the personnel of the military emergency hospitals in Brasov, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Pitesti and Timisoara - and in the field of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense - five officers with experience in the field of the Defence Staff and the General Staff of the Land Forces.