President Klaus Iohannis and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, have attended, on Tuesday, in the southeastern Smardan Range in Galati County, the Justice Sword 21 multinational military exercise.

"Today, in exercise, were forces from Romania and forces from Poland. The Polish soldiers are those who came to take part in the Multinational Brigade. It's extremely important that such exercises take place to verify and to increase the degree of interoperability, meaning they work together well, know each other, learn to connect with one another and to be capable of executing combat missions together. When we're speaking of combat missions, I must be very clear here, we are preparing for defense combat missions. It is for us, on the Eastern Flank of NATO, extremely important to have well trained forces, well trained for defense. We are preparing for defense on the Eastern Flank," said President Iohannis.

He stated that he was impressed by the military exercise.
"I am impressed, the exercise functioned very well and I congratulate all," said Iohannis.

President Andrzej Duda expressed his hope that such exercises will be organized in Poland as well.

Today in the Smardan Range we watched practical exercises which will prove how our soldiers can work together and I emphasize together, because in this exercise both Romanian and Polish soldiers participated, Polish soldiers from the Allied mission that's deployed here in Romania. (...) I am very glad that there is this opportunity for joint exercises, for joint demonstrations. It's very important for our soldiers and for the Romanian soldiers that they can see each other and they can work together with their colleagues. It is, also, an opportunity to see the military equipment the two countries have, to see that we are very well prepared, we are in modernization and we are glad for this process of modernization. I spoke with Mr. President also yesterday about these ongoing activities. We see thus that we are becoming more compatible with our allies, even the US. I am very glad that we can do these exercises together, said Andrzej Duda.

The two presidents participated in the Day of Distinguished Visitors on the occasion of the Justice Sword 21 military exercise taking place in the Galati Range and where Poland brought the forces and military equipment deployed to our country as part of the Adapted Presence on the Allied Eastern Flank, in the structures of the NATO Multinational Brigade from southern Craiova.AGERPRES(RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Maria Voican)