General Defence Staff flag decorated on 160th anniversary

The flag of Romania's General Defence Staff was decorated, on Tuesday with a Faithful Service Order in the rank of High Officer with war insignias for the military, on its 160th anniversary, in the presence of Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff Nicolae Petrescu, and presidential adviser Ion Oprisan. "This decoration acknowledges the contribution of all the reserve and retiring soldiers, especially those who worked at the General Staff and the chiefs of the defence staff, some of them attending the ceremony today, whom we want to thank for their professionalism and achievements (...) and for the legacy they allowed us to carry on. We also want to hail the over 1,200 Romanian troops who are today writing history in Romania's missions abroad," Ciuca said on Tuesday. He said that, on this day, the thoughts of those in attendance also go to the 30 comrades who have fallen in recent years in their line of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to over 190 who were injured. "The Defence Staff has proven that it can act as a professional team, which knows how to work in an integrated and efficient manner. These qualities will be all the more important in the new security environment that is unpredictable and extremely volatile. Our country's defence can only be conceived through the prism of a collective approach, based on common values, as the experience gained by the Romanian armed forces inside NATO and the European Union assures us a solid status in relation with the allied and partner armies," Ciuca said. He gave assurances that Romania will continue to develop its strategic partnership with the United States of America, including in terms of support for the implementation of national objectives amidst the adaptation of NATO's deterrence and defense posture. "We will continue to fulfill our commitments to equitable distribution of defence burdens, which entails financial contribution, capabilities and participation in missions, by allocating in the future 2pct of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for defence spending, and we will focus on equipping the Romanian armed forces with modern hardware and equipment worthy of a NATO country. Thus, we will continue to hold one of the first places in NATO in that area, which confirms that our country is a credible partner in NATO and the EU," said Ciuca. He showed that November 12, 1859 is one of the most important days in the calendar of Romania's military traditions, a true birthday of the modern Romanian Army. "160 years ago, ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza founded the General Staff of the United Principalities, a management structure that drew up and implemented in the decades ahead all the decisions with a major impact on the Romanian military. It is not by chance that the Defence Staff is of the same age as modern Romania," Ciuca said. After reading the presidential decree granting the decoration, the decoration was affixed to the SMAp flag, the National Anthem of Romania was played, and the battle flag was introduced into the front formation. Also, SMAp awarded in its turn decorations and badges of honour. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Alexandru Florea, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)