Romania's Defence Minister Radu Miruta, had a bilateral meeting on Thursday in Brussels with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.

According to the Romanian Defence Ministry (MApN), discussions focused on the main security developments at European level, with a focus on the support provided to Ukraine and on strengthening the relevant European initiatives for the eastern flank.

Miruta highlighted Romania's efforts in support of Ukraine in multiple dimensions including training, logistics and humanitarian aid, saying that maintaining robust and coordinated European support remains essential to strengthening Ukraine's resilience and maintaining regional stability amidst the security challenges generated by the Russian Federation's war of aggression.

An important topic of the conversation was cooperation with Ukraine in the development of industrial capabilities , where the European Union launched several support initiatives, including increasing financing via the European Investment Bank, the EU-Ukraine partnership for connectivity and secure communications. The two officials exchanged views on the progress made within the capability coalitions formed by member states for the implementation of European leaders' decisions on the Defence Readiness 2030 objective.

'The increased demand from member states and Ukraine for defence equipment can only be quickly balanced by increasing production, with the involvement of assets and infrastructure available at the level of all member states, by coherently combining technological and logistical, testing and storage capabilities that exist throughout the EU. What is currently missing is a mapping of these facilities and a top-down coordination in the association of different cooperation opportunities,' according to Miruta.

The minister also highlighted the growing importance of the Black Sea region to European security, which is why the region should occupy a central role within the NATO and European Union initiatives on the eastern flank. The two officials also discussed the latest developments in making operational the Black Sea security hub, a facility proposed by the EU Strategic Approach for this sea basin, which Romania has expressed its interest in hosting.

The meeting reconfirmed the convergence of vision on the need to strengthen the role of the European Union in the field of security and defence, in complementarity with NATO, as well as Romania's commitment to remaining a decisive contributor to European initiatives aimed at strengthening regional and Euro-Atlantic security. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Andreea Rotaru; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)