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DefMin Motoc: Georgia is an essential partner to Romania in the Black Sea region
National Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc on Thursday said he had analysed with his Georgian counterpart Tinatin Khidasheli the recent evolutions of the regional security environment and the cooperation initiatives at the Black Sea.
"We have agreed that it is opportune, necessary that we concentrate to put our concerns about the Black Sea region on the NATO strategic and political radar to a greater extent," Motoc declared.
He asserted that Georgia is an essential partner to Romania in the Black Sea region and one of the most significant partners for both NATO and the EU. "Romania is one of the most active, more constant advocates of the approach of Euro-Atlantic integration of Georgia. Our bilateral relations are on an upward trend, and as a matter of military cooperation we have had the occasion to explore how we could deepen cooperation in certain fields," he said.
The two ministers also examined the possibilities of cooperation in military education, defence intelligence and special forces, and of boosting participation in joint military exercises.
"The NATO-Georgia partnership had core place in our talks, as well as the possibilities to optimally capitalize it with a view to the Warsaw Summit. Romania, as a constant promoter of the open-door policy, respectively as NATO Contact Point Embassy in Tbilisi for over three years now, is in a very good position to ascertain the palpable progresses in Georgia's defence sector's reform and also to fairly appreciate Georgia's operational contribution to NATO missions. Georgia is the most important contributor, after the USA, to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, and even contributes to the enhanced NATO response force," Motoc added.
Minister Tinatin Khidasheli thanked Romania for its support to Georgia. "It is very important to Georgia, a country unfortunately confronted with several challenges and threats, to know that it has close to it important countries, important leaders of the world and of the international organisations. Romania is somewhere at the top of the list of those who have supported and keep supporting us," she said.
According to her, the cooperation between Romania and Georgia could be stretched to other countries too. "The security challenges make us more vigilant to ensuring security, the safety of our borders and countries. Thank you, Romania for giving us the opportunity to be present in various joint exercises and training activities with your army or under the NATO umbrella. I have been also very pleased to host Romanian troops on Georgia's territory, who have also trained with the Georgian military, in bilateral exercises or under the NATO umbrella. The security challenges we are currently confronted with, the attacks in Brussels, the ones in Ankara, Istanbul, Paris are proof of the fact that we must strengthen our cooperation, our partnerships and be open to all the countries that are willing to join the participation in ensuring security," the Georgian minister declared.
She added that the Black Sea is a core point to ensure security. "We see the Black Sea as a core point to ensuring security of our states, a point where we could fight together to ensure the security of our borders. This makes us think that we are neighbours, so we should defend together, alongside Bulgaria, Turkey, and likewise, through the Black Sea, we could cooperate very well with the other NATO countries," added Khidasheli.