Regional defence cooperation serves the security of NATO’s eastern flank and the entire Alliance, Defense Ministers of Poland, Mariusz Błaszczak and Romania, Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca said, during a meeting in Bucharest on Monday.

The Defense Minister is a member of President Andrzej Duda’s delegation on a two-day visit to Bucharest combined with the Bucharestian nine summit – comprising the countries of NATO’s eastern flank.

The Defence Minister presented badges to Romanian soldiers for merits in cooperation with Polish colleagues, including the mission in Afghanistan. “Thank you for the conversation, which meets our expectations, and these expectations arise from the foundation of long-term friendly relations,” Mariusz Błaszczak said.

The ministers opened an exhibition on the 100th anniversary of Polish-Romanian military relations in the building of the Romanian Ministry of Defense. “The hundredth anniversary of establishing cooperation is a beautiful story, but we are focused on what is happening today,” emphasised the Defence Minister.

During the meeting, the defence ministers talked about joint allied undertakings like the Swift Response 21 military exercises, the technical modernisation and exchange of experience in the operation of defence systems, military mobility and the PESCO programme concerning the permanent defense cooperation mechanism in the EU.

The Romanian Defence Minister assessed that previous experiences encourage further joint projects on NATO’s eastern flank, and “the involvement of Poland and Romania is an integral element of the Alliance’s credibility,” Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca said.

Polish Defence Minister invited his Romanian counterpart to pay a visit to Poland.

On Tuesday, the Polish delegation and President Klaus Iohannis will watch a fragment of the Justice Sword 21 exercises in which soldiers of the Polish contingent co-creating NATO’s matched Forward Presence (TFP) battalion stationed in Krajowa will take part.