Romania, like all NATO members, is under the NATO nuclear umbrella provided by the United States, Romanian President Nikusor Dan said today during a visit to Warsaw, adding that from this point of view the country is protected, Agerpres reported.
"First of all, Romania, like all NATO countries, is under the NATO nuclear umbrella provided by the United States. This is the first thing. Then, as a NATO member country, Romania participates in the decisions, programs with a nuclear component, which are taken within the alliance. So from this point of view, Romania is protected, it is under the nuclear umbrella," Nikusor Dan said at a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki.
His comment was in response to a question about how he viewed the fact that Romania had been invited by France to participate in the expansion of its nuclear umbrella, which was announced earlier this week by Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Coiu.
Nikusor Dan specified that Romania has a strategic partnership with France. "As you know, we have a strategic partnership, which is a partnership in a number of areas. This partnership is in the process of expanding and I will stop there," the head of state said.
Asked about the security risks to military bases in Romania after NATO defenses in Turkey shot down an Iranian missile yesterday, the president stressed that "there is no reason for concern at this moment," Digi 24 television reported.
"We are fully protected. There is no reason for concern at this moment. Obviously, in the context of the escalation in the Gulf area, the level of readiness was increased at American bases around the world, but this is the situation. There is no reason for concern," the president stressed.
He added that he had no intention of calling a meeting of the Supreme National Defense Council regarding the situation in the Middle East for the time being, since it currently does not pose a "direct and immediate danger." for Romania.
For his part, Polish President Karol Nawrocki reminded that Romania has been a strategic partner of Poland since 2009, when the strategic partnership agreement between the two countries was signed. He said that he discussed with his Romanian counterpart topics related to security, NATO, the EU, cooperation between Poland and Romania, as well as cooperation with the United States, Agerpres reported.
"I am very glad that together with Mr. President we are convinced that both the presence of the US army in Poland and Romania and cooperation in the field of security are in the interest of both Poland and Romania," said Nawrocki, who added that the two also exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East.
He also recalled the cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the "Three Seas" initiative, which, according to him, unites over 130 million citizens and countries with rapidly developing economies that play an important role in the region. Nawrocki also said that the upcoming Bucharest-9 meeting in May, when an invitation will be extended to the Scandinavian countries, was also discussed.
In economic terms, the Polish president pointed out that Polish exports to Romania have increased by 3.3 percent, and Romanian exports to Poland by about 1.5 percent. The number of companies showing interest in investing in Romania is also increasing, Nawrocki pointed out.