U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General James C McConville (L, front), and Romanian Chief of the Defense Staff, Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu (R. front), attend a press briefing at Romanian Defence Ministry in Bucharest, Romania, on Aug. 7, 2020. Romanian and U.S. military officials on Friday discussed the number of American troops to be additionally deployed to the eastern European country, said the Romanian Defense Ministry in a statement. (Photo by Cristian Cristel/Xinhua)
BUCHAREST, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Romanian and U.S. military officials on Friday discussed the number of American troops to be additionally deployed to the eastern European country, said the Romanian Defense Ministry in a statement.
Romanian Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca and the Chief of the Defense Staff, Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu, met at the Defense Ministry headquarters with visiting U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General James C McConville, and Commander of U.S. Army Europe Lt. Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli.
The meeting focused on the number of American troops to be deployed additionally to Romania and the places where they will be stationed.
"We intend to deploy more forces in the Black Sea region, particularly in Romania," said McConville at the meeting, adding that "this demonstrates our continued commitment to a strong Europe."
For his part, Petrescu welcomed the U.S. intention to supplement the effort to support security at the Black Sea through a continuous rotating presence.
The U.S. commitment to the region is "a key factor in support of the strengthening of security on the southern segment of the Alliance's Eastern Flank. We must continue to implement a series of deterrence and defense measures in the Black Sea region, similar to the measures planned and implemented in the Baltic Sea region," said Petrescu.
The two sides also announced that next year, through a complex exercise, the initial operational capacity of the NATO Southeast Multinational Corps Headquarters will be declared.
Soon after the Pentagon announced at the end of July that 11,900 U.S. troops in Germany would be redeployed to reinforce NATO's southeastern flank, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that his country would gladly host more American forces.
Romania already hosts an American military airbase by the Black Sea as well as a land-based SM-3 interceptor ballistic missile defense system in the southern part of Romania. Enditem
