President Klaus Iohannis attended on Thursday the summit of NATO leaders in Brussels, having brief talks with US President Donald Trump, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as with French President Emmanuel Macron and Belgian PM Charles Michel.
President Klaus Iohannis also had a bilateral meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. The two discussed about the opportunity to organize a new summit in the Bucharest 9 format, such as the one last year, sources say.
In a press statement late on Thursday, the Romanian head of state stressed the meeting will help Romania’s defence and strengthen security in the region. “From our point of view, it was a successful meeting,” Iohannis said, according to agerpres.ro.
He pointed out that the Allies appreciate that Romania has already allocated 2% of GDP for defence. The President also said Romania support NATO’s dimension in fighting terrorism and that he has referred to the progress made by the Multinational Brigade and the Combined Joint Enhanced Training Initiative, to the exercises hosted by Romania.
President Iohannis said he had stressed the US participation in Romania and in the Black Sea region in order to ensure the collective defence, and that a consistent approach is needed in relation with Russia.