The next Eastern Flank Summit will take place in Romania, President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday at a joint news conference with the leaders who participated in the meeting of this format in Gdansk.

'We agreed that the next meeting in this format will take place in Romania at the beginning of 2027, if there are no exceptional events by then,' Dan said.

In his speech, the President touched on the security situation in the region and the role of Romania.

'We are sending together a message of unity; we are conveying the fact that we recognise Russia together as a collective threat to our countries. We are sending a message of solidarity with Ukraine and continued support for the war it is waging, while defending Europe. We have the same opinion regarding the relationship between the European Union and NATO, which must be complementary on the issue of defending Europe and each of us understood the need to increase spending, which should be transformed into military equipment.'

The President added that it is important that this flank covers all from the north to the south of the Eastern Flank, for the Black Sea area.

'It is important for Romania, and I have informed colleagues about the progress we have made regarding the Black Sea Security Hub, a project of the European Union,' he added.

According to Dan, the summit was also an opportunity to review the situation of military equipment programmes, as Romania our country being interested in Eastern Flank Watch.

'We are also interested in the programmes of the multiannual financial framework, and here we insisted on including Ukraine's experience in these programmes, in order to strike a balance between the need for competitiveness and the strategic need for the objectives we have in terms of defending the Eastern Flank,' the head of state said. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)