Defence Minister Oprea: US invitation to Romania, a foreign policy success

February 4, 2010

Bucharest, Feb 4 /Agerpres/ - The invitation extended by the US to Romania to join the missile shield is a success of the consistent foreign policy of Romania over the past five years promoted by President Traian Basescu, the commander of Romania's Armed Forces, Defence Minister Gabriel Oprea said on Thursday.

'This invitation is consolidating the Romanian-US strategic partnership and is the outcome of conjugated efforts of the institutions dealing with national defence and security matters. Under today's decision of the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT), ground-based interception elements will be deployed in Romania as part of the ballistic missile defence system, which is a priority of Romania's defence policy. In the period immediately ahead, bilateral negotiations will be initiated between Romanian and US diplomatic and military experts that will lead to the conclusion of agreements that will be submitted to the Romanian Parliament for ratification,' Oprea said in a press release issued on Thursday.

He underscored that the US decision to invite Romania to join the missile defence system is a confirmation of excellent cooperation between the Romanian and the US armed forces as part of the military dimension of the Romanian-US partnership.

'This is an important decision, a major contribution to boosting the security of Romania, a member state of the North Atlantic Alliance, that guarantees the national territory of Romania will be fully covered against any threats of ballistic missile strikes. Romania is a trustful ally of the US, and proof to that is Romania's foreign policy, the active involvement of the Romanian Army in international missions, in the theaters of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Western Balkans and also the actions supported by Romanian officials,' said Oprea. AGERPRES

[www.romaniapress.com]

SEE ALSO IN ROMANIAN NEWSPAPERS

German and Austrian investors, most interested in Romanian euro bonds The euro bonds emission launched on Thursday in Romania triggered the interest of German and Austrian investors, Finance Ministry state secretary Bogdan Dragoi declared. He said that Austrian and German investors took about 30.8% of the bonds, 23.7% was allocated to Great Britain investors and (...)

Dacia Logan was the most sold foreign car on the Russian market in the first two months / total sales dropped by 34% New car sales on the Russian market dropped by 34% after last year was a disaster and the best sold model of a foreign car was Renault Logan with over 7,000 units. Lada sales dropped by 36%, Ford cars dropped by 60% and Honda dropped by 70% in the first two months, Automotive News (...)

Reporters without Borders, scandalized by the way Romanian European Parliamentarian Becali addressed a journalist Reporters without Borders, together with its partner association from Romania, Active Watch declare themselves scandalized to the obscene comments made by Romanian George Becali, member of the European Parliament to a journalist. The two associations declared that they are shocked because of (...)

IMF chief in an official visit to Romania end of March IMF General Director Dominique Strauss Kahn will arrive in Bucharest on March 30 as part of his European tour, a press release of the institution reads. Dominique Strauss Kahn will be accompanied by the European department director, Marek Belka, and by IMF Romanian chief Jeffrey (...)

Romanian Justice minister Predoiu: EC justice report will be published these days Justice minister Catalin Predoiu announced that the European Commission report on Romania's progress in the judicial system will be released these days, Romanian news agency Agerpres reads.

Justice ministry in Singapore: the seriousness of the accident involving Romanian Silviu Ionescu justifies an investigation The Justice ministry in Singapore, K. Shanmugam declared that he expects Romania to take into account the evidence revealed in the investigation in the case of the accident involving Romanian diplomat Silviu Ionescu. Shanmugam declared that the gravity of the accident on December 15 justifies (...)

EUobserver: Russian oligarchs control a big part of the metallurgic sector in Romania Kremlin steadily extends its control over big businesses in Russia and most of them moved their activities to Eastern Europe. One of the most preferred destinations is Romania, EUobserver reads. The newspaper notes that the metallurgic sector in Romania is dominated by four companies from (...)

What the newspapers say: March 15, 2010 President Basescu starts negotiations with all political parties to fundamentally change the laws governing the state, one newspaper reads on Monday. Another revolutionary idea is put forward by Dinu Patriciu, the Romanian businessman, in business: his plan is to set up a vast network of kiosks (...)

Notes on the Analytica report: Basescu and the Putin model "Basescu is probably attracted by the 'Putin model' in Russia: the creation of a political movement which dwarfs all others and ensures that he continues to rule behind the scenes", an analysis published on March 8 2010 by prestigious British think-tank Oxford Analytica (...)

Romania's current account deficit dropped 73.2% in January. Sums sent by overseas Romanians went up Romania's current account of the payments balance dropped by 73.2% in January against the same time last year, amounting to 123 billion euros, according to Romania's National Bank (BNR) data. The current account deficit was 459 in January (...)