Romanian, Italian Defense Ministers hold talks on sidelines of Zagreb meeting

Acting Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca had a bilateral meeting with his Italian counterpart Lorenzo Guerini on the sidelines of the meeting of the EU Defense Ministers taking place in Zagreb, Croatia, the National Defense Ministry said in a release issued on Thursday.

The two officials discussed the stage of the Romanian-Italian defense cooperation, both in bilateral context, and within the EU and NATO.

The meeting included an exchange of views on the security situation in the Western Balkans, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean region. Also, in the light of the joint participation in missions in operations theaters, as well as in a number of ongoing European projects dedicated to the development of multinational capabilities, the two ministers praised the two states' close cooperation and coordination as extremely useful. Industrial cooperation was another subject approached during the talks, the cited release said.

Nicolae Ciuca thanked minister Lorenzo Guerini for Italy's contribution, as a NATO ally, to strengthening the eastern flank by participating in the joint air policing mission conducted in Romania in 2019, as well as for its contribution with personnel to the Craiova-based Multinational South-East Brigade. The Romanian Defense Minister assured his Italian counterpart of Romania's commitment to efforts to project stability beyond NATO borders, in the spirit of NATO's omnidirectional approach, the source said.

Also, the two ministers emphasized the importance of maintaining the pace of practical cooperation between the two armies, by continuing consultations and engagement in joint projects, both bilaterally, as well as in multinational and allied format. AGERPRES