Foreign affairs senior official Ciamba, CEPA official Hodges discuss Black Sea security

Secretary of State for Euro-Atlantic Strategic and Bilateral Affairs with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) George Ciamba, on Wednesday met Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, coordinator for strategic studies at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

According to a MAE press statement, the meeting took place as part of Hodges's participation in a CEPA seminar hosted in Bucharest on Thursday called "Reshaping the Security Environment in Southeastern Europe - A View from Bucharest".

At the meeting, Ciamba highlighted the special contribution Hodges can bring to CEPA's analysis and reflection dimension in Central and Eastern Europe, from the perspective of his position until last year as commander of the United States Army Europe (USAREUR).

The two officials highlighted the solidity of the strategic partnership relationship between Romania and the US, mentioning the recent significant developments in the field of security and defence cooperation between the two countries, as well as Romania's contribution to common security.

In view of the NATO summit scheduled for July this year, the two senior officials stressed the need to strengthen NATO's capacity to deal with all current threats, regardless of where they come from.

At the same time, Ciamba stressed the importance of measures to strengthen NATO's deterrence and defence posture on the eastern flank, underlining the need for full implementation of all decisions on NATO's advanced presence, including in the enlarged Black Sea area.

The Center for European Analysis (CEPA) is a political analysis institute set up in 2005 in Washington, focusing on the study of Central and Eastern Europe. CEPA aims to promote the economic, political and strategic development of Central and Eastern Europe as well as close ties with the US. Lieutenant General (r) Ben Hodges joined CEPA in 2017, previously serving as commander of the United States Army Europe (USAREUR). AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)