Romania’s Defence Minister: “We are a strong supporter of Georgia”

"Romania is one of the strongest supporters of Georgia”, says head of Romania’s Defence Ministry Mircea Dusa.

The Romanian official is on his first official visit to Georgia and since arriving earlier this morning, he has already held several meetings with local authorities, including his Georgian counterpart Mindia Janelidze at the Ministry of Defence.

The Defence officials reviewed regional security issues and the Georgian Minister informed his Romanian counterpart about the reforms already implemented and scheduled for the future in Georgia’s defensive scope.

Janelidze emphasized the top priority of 2015 was effective execution of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, and he thanked the Romanian side for its readiness to send a representative to the NATO Core Team.

"We talked about cooperation in the direction of NATO and the EU as well as in a bilateral format,” Janelidze said.

Romania is one of the main supporters of Georgia on its way to Euro-Atlantic integration and for enhancement of the Georgian Armed Forces’ abilities. Our future cooperation will be very fruitful,” he said at a press conference held after the meeting.

Dusa spoke highly of the ongoing reforms in the Georgian defence sector and thanked Janelidze for Georgia’s significant contribution to global security.

Romania is one of the strongest supporters of Georgia on its way to Euro-Atlantic aspiration. The Embassy of Romania to Georgia has been granted a mandate of NATO [as a] contact point for the second time,” he said.

Very soon a NATO Core Team will start active work towards implementation of the NATO-Georgia Substantial Package. Romania will send a representative to take up the position of Deputy NATO Core Team Leader. Georgia is one of the most important partners for NATO,” Dusa said.

At the meeting the Defence Ministers emphasized Georgia’s cooperation with the EU and noted Georgia’s immense contribution to international missions in Afghanistan and the Central African Republic (CAR) was important.

We also underlined the importance of the Riga Summit related to Eastern Partnership countries. The Georgian Armed Forces always take an active part in NATO military drills. We underlined important directions of bilateral cooperation between our Special Operation Forces and military intelligence. We discussed regional security issues, especially on the aspect of the Ukrainian crisis. We underlined the importance of providing security situation in the Black Sea region,” Dusa said.

At the end of the press conference, the Romanian official promised Georgia his country would offer strong support as Georgia worked towards implementing the NATO-Georgia Substantial Package.

On another note, also today the Romanian official met Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and discussed the Georgian-Romanian cooperation in the defensive sector as well as Georgia’s relations with NATO and the EU.

The pair discussed the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit, due to be held in Riga in May, and Georgia’s expectations of the event.

Georgia’s Prime Minister said following the course of European integration represented a unified choice of his nation.

Garibashvili thanked the Romanian Defence Minister for his country’s support for Georgia's territorial integrity and European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. He once again expressed his concern over Russia’s signature of the so-called treaties on Alliance and Strategic Partnership with Georgia’s breakaway regions Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.

At the end of the meeting, Garibashvili invited Dusa to upcoming conference on Georgia's defence and security, which will be held in Batumi on June 25-27.

In response, Dusa offered the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s regards to his Georgian counterpart and noted he was pleased with the visit of the Romanian official to Georgia.

Dusa is due to depart Georgia on April 6.