Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport Administrative Center

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was due in Romania on Thursday on his first official visit, to discuss consolidation of the Alliance's capacities on its eastern flank and open a NATO Force Integration Unit, NFIU.

Stoltenberg was due to meet President Klaus Iohannis, acting Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea and the Foreign and Defence ministers.

NATO heavy equipment

The US Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday announced that Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Baltic countries have agreed to station NATO heavy equipment on their soil, in a move aimed to strengthen the Alliance's Eastern flank in case of an emergency with Russia.

US Vice-President Joe Biden is to visit Bucharest for talks with Romanian leaders on the volatile situation in Ukraine, among other matters.

President Traian Basescu on Monday said he had invited Biden to Romania, but declined to specify the timing of the visit.

The military exercise, codenamed “Vector 2014”, is to end later this week and will involve some 1,600 naval personnel, the Romanian Defence Ministry confirmed on Monday.

“The exercise is organized annually and aims at training naval structures for their missions. It was planned around one year ago,” the ministry said.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Wednesday that the country needed to spend more on the armed forces.