This week, Bucharest became the capital of European and Euro-Atlantic diplomacy, the capital of Romania, where two meetings involving key security chiefs took place in the last days of November.

A meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member countries will be held in Bucharest on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Munich Leaders’ Meeting (MLM) will also be held in the capital on Monday and Tuesday.

Stoltenberg and Blinken in Bucharest

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will chair the meeting of foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Alliance.

In addition, Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken will be in Romania from November 28 to 30 to participate in a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

The foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden will also attend the Bucharest meeting as states invited to join the organization.

The meeting in Bucharest will focus on Russia’s war against Ukraine, the implementation of NATO’s new strategic concept, energy security, critical infrastructure protection and NATO’s capacity-building and resilience efforts in the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The foreign ministers of the NATO countries will confirm the unity of the allied states to adapt the Alliance to the new realities in which Russia is the most important risk for Euro-Atlantic security, as defined in the new strategic concept adopted in Madrid.

“These two events, which are notable for our country and with international participation at the highest level, organized for the first time in Romania, take place at a critical moment for regional and Euro-Atlantic security, marked by the war started by Russia in Ukraine. and the influence of its multidimensionality, once again confirming the active profile of our country at the international level, especially in terms of foreign policy and security, as well as the strategic importance of the Black Sea,” said the head of Romanian diplomacy, Bohdan Aurescu.

The first high-level meeting of NATO took place in the country on the eastern flank since the beginning of the war in Ukraine

The meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member countries is the first event of its kind organized in Romania after our country joined the Alliance in 2004, and the second formal meeting of the allies after the Bucharest summit in 2008.

It is also the first high-level NATO meeting to be held in the eastern flank state, which is the Alliance’s first line of defense since Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.

At the same time, this is the first high-level meeting of NATO after the Madrid Summit held at the end of June 2022, and in this sense it will be an important stage in the implementation of the new Strategic Concept of the Alliance. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the first discussion on the analysis of the stage of implementation of the decisions taken in Madrid and for the preparation of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, starting from 2023, the quoted source said.

Together with the foreign ministers of the thirty member states, the NATO Secretary General and other senior political and military officials of the Alliance, the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden will attend the Bucharest meeting as states invited to join the organization. .

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova (for the first time at such a meeting), Ukraine, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will take part in meetings open to partners within the framework of the meeting.

The meeting will begin on Tuesday afternoon, when two working sessions will be held, in particular, a session with the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, as a partner of the Alliance. The first day of the meeting will offer an opportunity to mark with a public diplomacy event the 20th anniversary of the 2002 Prague Summit, which invited Romania, along with six other member states, to join the North Atlantic.

The minister will continue on Wednesday with two more working sessions in an alliance format, in which two guests will take part – the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden, and in the last session the partners of the Alliance – the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Romania’s stakes at the NATO summit in Bucharest

During the discussion of the ministers of foreign affairs of NATO member states, together with colleagues from partner states and guests, measures to strengthen defense and deterrence on the eastern flank in the context of the illegal war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the increase of allied support to Ukraine, the fight against threats from the hybrid registry, discussion of ways to manage long-term challenges caused by China’s actions, strengthening the stability of the Euro-Atlantic community, including in the energy sector. The issue of continued support for strengthening the resilience of the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will also be considered. At the same time, the meeting will provide an opportunity for a strategic assessment of the Alliance’s global security challenges, which also result from dependence on states that do not share the same values ​​as the Allies, the Foreign Ministry says. .

“Our country plays a particularly active role at the regional, European and Euro-Atlantic levels, especially in the context of the illegal war waged by Russia against Ukraine, which requires concrete measures to increase the stability of the states close to the Alliance, in accordance with the decisions of the NATO summit in Madrid, and also to reduce all dependencies. Our role is as pragmatic and specific as possible – from unconditional support to more than 2.9 million refugees from Ukraine who crossed our borders, to broad involvement in the settlement of the consequences of this crisis, including the issue of transit of grain and agricultural products to third directions – currently more than 8, 4 million tons. The ministerial meeting in Bucharest is an additional opportunity to promote Romania’s priorities at the NATO level and the strategic importance of the Black Sea, as we have done so far, as well as to implement all decisions regarding the consolidation of NATO’s eastern flank as soon as possible, including in Romania,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bohdan Aurescu of Romania.

Romania’s goals:

• confirming security and defense priorities, with an emphasis on the speedy implementation of decisions on the consolidation of NATO’s eastern flank, especially the Black Sea
• emphasizing the need to continue strengthening NATO in the context of the unprecedented threat from Russia
• stressing the importance of continued support by allies of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
• underlining the importance of strengthening, with concrete results, NATO-EU cooperation and coordination in the current security context at the Euro-Atlantic level, including in the Black Sea region
• assessment of NATO security challenges and the Alliance’s response to them

What is the Munich Leaders’ Meeting?

The Munich Leaders’ Meeting (MLM), organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with the Munich Security Conference, will bring together more than 75 high-level participants from more than 25 countries, current and former officials, in Bucharest on November 28 and 29. , renowned experts and analysts, thought leaders to address topics of significant interest on the regional, European and Euro-Atlantic agenda.

Interactive MLM debates take place behind closed doors under Chatham House-style rules, MAE says.

The Bucharest MLM meeting is part of the annual program of the prestigious Munich Security Conference. It is organized in preparation for the February 2023 conference, a year after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The previous MLM meeting was held in Washington in May.

This is the first time in the history of this format that the event takes place in Southeast Europe, this success of Romania’s political and diplomatic efforts is also a recognition of the importance of our country at the regional, European and Euro-Atlantic level, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes.

The agenda of the meeting in Bucharest will include topics related to international security, with an emphasis on developments in the Eastern region, the Black Sea region and the Western Balkans. The European security architecture, the implementation of the new NATO Strategic Concept, hybrid threats, food security, and the energy crisis will also be considered among the topics. The event in Bucharest will have an impact once it is held, the results will contribute to the basis of the debate that will be held next year at the Security Conference in Munich, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania says.