DefMin Fifor: NATO Eastern flank's states share same concerns, from risks, threats' view

The states on the NATO Eastern flank share several same and particular concerns, from the view of perceiving risks and threats to security, on Tuesday said the Defence Minister Mihai Fifor, in the opening of the Defence ministers' reunion with the countries participating in "Bucharest 9 Initiative" (B9).

"From where we stand, the convergence of the national approaches on current topics of security and defence of the Euro-Atlantic area, implies a more applied cooperation's development, including by capitalising on the various multinational formats. In this respect, considering that the NATO Eastern flank's states share a series of common and particular concerns, from the angle of perceiving risks and threats to security, we find the debate of these topics in B9 format useful, as a preparation and clotting stage of the national positions with a view to defining a joint vision at NATO level, on the occasion of this year's July summit due in Brussels," the Minister said.

Mihai Fifor added that this will prove the unity and coherence of the Eastern allied flank.
He stressed that the Tuesday reunion will tackle aspects on the current risks and threats to security, and also progresses recorded with regard to the implementation of the decisions made at the Warsaw NATO summit in 2016.

In his turn, the Polish Defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak voiced his satisfaction with the fact that the decisions made in Warsaw in 2016 are being implemented, adding that Russia's actions determine an increased attention granted to security.

As we all know, Russia's activities make us grant enhanced attention to security. I'm glad that more and more countries allocate 2pct of the GDP for Defence. This is what Poland does. A bill adopted in the Polish Parliament explicitly says that starting with 2030 we shall spend 2.5pct of the GDP for Defence. Moreover, we are upgrading our army and buying modern equipment. (...) This is not only about our countries' security, it is about the Europe's and the free world's," the Polish minister stressed.

The B9 reunion in Bucharest is attended by the Defence ministers from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, alongside NATO officials and the US Department of Defence.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Maria Voican, editor: Simona Iacob)