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Letter of intent on bilateral defence cooperation signed by Romanian and Dutch officials
Romania's Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc on Thursday announced having signed with his Dutch counterpart Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert a letter of intent on bilateral defence cooperation.
"We have found that very promising action guidelines are in place regarding joint participation and training in Romania and also air force cooperation. Let us not forget that the Netherlands has a huge expertise and experience with operating F-16 capabilities, so we have what to learn from them and areas to work with them. To further this cooperation, I signed a letter of intent with Mrs Minister to advance bilateral defence cooperation, and we aim to expand the legal basis of this cooperation by new documents. We are contemplating, for instance, a memorandum of understanding to protect classified information that will allow Romania and the Netherlands to deepen defence intelligence cooperation," Morotc said after welcoming the Dutch minister to the headquarters of the Romanian Defence Ministry.
He said the meeting was part of the actions to intensify consultations among NATO allies.
"There is an important meeting of NATO defence ministers coming in less than two weeks, a meeting where Romania has two objectives to advance: a political objective related to the rounding up of big, principle decisions made at the Warsaw Summit with decisions to materialise some aspects established back then, and a more practical objective of identifying, jointly with the allies, the contributions needed for the development of the security device that we suggested and we saw approved at the Warsaw Summit, namely a multinational brigade, the maritime and aerial components of NATO's advanced Black Sea presence," said Motoc.
He added that the Netherlands and Romania will start an exchange of opinions on their positions on the ongoing implementation of the European Union's global strategy as well as on European defence cooperation.