Romanian Navy Chief of Staff attends MCM Black Sea Committee Meeting in Istanbul

The Turkish Naval Forces will take over the command of the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Group (MCM Black Sea) for the next six months; Turkey participates in the mine-clearing initiative with the logistics support ship (A-574) Gungor Durmus - command ship, and the mine hunter M-270 Akcay, which are joined by the Bulgarian Navy's mine hunter M-33 Struma and the Romanian sea minesweeper 'Slt. Alexandru Axente', the National Defense Ministry informed on Monday.

In this context, Romanian Navy Chief of Staff, Vice-Admiral Mihai Panait, participated on Monday in Istanbul in the MCM Black Sea Committee Meeting.

The main purpose of the MCM Black Sea task force is to maintain the safety of the Black Sea traffic through surveillance, recognition and neutralization of sea mines, as well as by related search and rescue operations at sea.

Romania signed on January 11, 2024 in Istanbul the three-year Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the MCM Black Sea in the trilateral format Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. The first activation of the task force is between July 1 and December 31, and in 2025 its command will be ensured in the first six months by the Bulgarian partners, and in the second half of the year by the Romanian Navy.

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