Romania's Chief of Defence Staff Petrescu attends NATO Military Committee meeting

- Romania's Chief of Defence Staff Daniel Petrescu on Wednesday attended the 185th meeting of the NATO Military Committee, NATO's highest military authority, in a virtual format.

During the working sessions, operational commitments were discussed, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans, the fundamental concept of "NATO Warfighting" was approved, progress with strengthening the deterrence and defence posture in the Euro-Atlantic area was analysed, and proposals were made to nullify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national and NATO defensive capabilities, according to a press statement from the Ministry of National Defense (MApN).

Petrescu highlighted the commitment of the Romanian armed forces to NATO missions, mentioning that Romania's relevant last action to date was the deployment to Iraq this January, of a communications and informatics detachment serving with the "NATO Mission in Iraq" and "Inherent Resolve" operations. He also thanked Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain, its NATO allies, for their contributions to strengthening the air policing service. Last but not least, he welcomed the constant support of NATO countries to the process of reaching the initial operational capacity of the Multinational Division South-East based in Romania.

The role of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is to provide advice to the North Atlantic Council on how the alliance can respond to global security challenges. For one year, meetings of the chiefs of defence take place twice at NATO Headquarters in Brussels and once in a NATO member country. The routine activity is performed by the national military representatives permanently present at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, according to MApN.

The meeting was attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who outlined NATO's goals for 2021, including strengthening transatlantic relations and the adaptation of the mission in Afghanistan. At the same time, he presented the main strategic directions formulated at the conference of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs of December 2020 and the objectives of the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in February this year.