The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Toiu, told AGERPRES on Thursday that she had discussed with her American counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Washington, inclusively on the presence of U.S. troops in Romania, which could have, 'over time, a permanent component'.

'In the conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, I also addressed the importance that Romania attaches to the presence of US military troops on Romanian territory in an allied format, as well as our decisions to ensure the necessary investments so that this presence continues, to acquire over time a character in which it has a permanent component, beyond the rotating component', said the Romanian chief diplomat.

At the same time, she mentioned that she spoke with her counterpart about the investments planned by the Ministry of Defense, especially in the 'Mihail Kogalniceanu' base, and about the priorities at NATO level.

Toiu recalled that Bucharest would host the NATO Industries Forum in November.

'We discussed together possible directions for approaching within NATO these stages that we see in the conflicts, both the one on our border with Ukraine, and other conflicts in the world, regarding the typology of defensive and deterrence capabilities,' the minister added.

The Black Sea security plan was also addressed.

'The United States of America addressed this issue in Congress, in the previous term, cross-partisanly. There was a working group with both Republicans and Democrats. We also met with President Nicusor Dan, with the co-initiators at the NATO summit in The Hague. But in this new format in which there are several political changes, changes that were made at the Congress level, it was very important for us, as Romania, to ensure that the focus on the Black Sea remains. And then, there are a few things that we did to support this direction. First of all, the Black Sea as a topic that we addressed in the discussions that we had in the U.N. format, including a panel on maritime security that we co-initiated and had participants from Canada and the United States of America and the Philippines, as well as representatives from the Baltic countries, who also have a focus on maritime security,' Toiu pointed out.

She added that she had meetings with representatives of the U.S. Congress on this issue last month, when the U.N. General Assembly was held. She also said that this is a topic that she will discuss soon with her Turkish counterpart.

'Also in the subcommittee for the European Union, a hearing dedicated to the Black Sea [region] took place on September 30. This is a good signal about the availability and interest at the Congress level, to continue both the discussions and the focus in this direction. But of course we must also ensure, at the European Union level and at home, that we take this beyond the strategic approach, into concrete decisions. For example, Romania wants to host the maritime security hub at the European Union level. The Black Sea will also be a topic that will be part of the bilateral visit that I will have at the invitation of the Turkish foreign minister. I also mentioned this to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the discussion about the Black Sea', the Romanian minister pointed out.

Oana Toiu reiterated the importance of the Black Sea region from a logistical and humanitarian point of view.

'We also discussed together the role that the Black Sea has had and has from a logistical access perspective, whether we were talking about humanitarian flows or exports, but also about the U.S. interest in practically consolidating more a diversity of logistical routes that would allow them access for their products,' she said.

At the same time, the minister recalled the fact that he presented the situation on the Eastern Flank to the American side, especially regarding drone attacks.

'We had these discussions together about both the Eastern Flank and the drones that entered Romanian airspace without authorization in several working formats two or three weeks ago in the context of the United Nations, including with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This conversation was part of the transatlantic working dinner, co-hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. We had then, I had an intervention between the first introductory interventions, precisely to present Romania's perspective on these things. And they are certainly willing to continue supporting both the defense on the Eastern Flank and, obviously, the main mechanism that must be, first and foremost, one of deterrence,' Toiu said.

As to the preparation of a bilateral meeting between the American and Romanian presidents in the U.S., the foreign minister stated: 'We are looking at the possibility of the calendar in the first quarter of next year.'

Among the topics on the agenda of the possible meeting are the transatlantic partnership, the security situation, but also the economic relationship.

'[These are] the priorities in the transatlantic partnership, which are certainly discussed at each of the important meetings, the high-level meetings, are related to security, economic development and the investment side, of course, with a focus on energy, the technology side. We have a stake - to support economic diplomacy together. Here we are not only talking about the investments of American companies on the territory of Romania or together with Romania, but also about this mature stage in which Romania is, a stage in which we have Romanian entrepreneurs who have reached a level of development, capital, the quality of their products and services, which has allowed and allows them to expand on the U.S. market, to access the capital market here and to have large-scale projects. I also talked about this, I mentioned to Secretary of State Marco Rubio the role of Romanian entrepreneurs, including in key areas, such as cybersecurity or new technologies. technologies', said Oana Toiu. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)