DefMin Fifor: Gov't Defense allocation steady at 2 pct of GDP through 2026

For the second consecutive year the government allocates the National Ministry of Defense 2 percent of GDP and will steadily maintain this level until at least the year 2026, minister of National Defense Mihai Fifor announced on Wednesday at the military oath-taking ceremony organized at the 'Ferdinand I' Military Technical Academy for the military higher education institutions and petty officers and NCO schools. 

"Dear students and freshmen, (...) beginning today, as you take the military oath, you are truly in the service of the country, and the country relies on your determination. We expect you to become the military professionals of the modern army we are building today, an army adapted to modern times and integrated with the North Atlantic Alliance and the EU, equipped with advanced hardware, with modern infrastructure, that will provide its personnel with living and work conditions at the standards of the times we live in. After years during which Defense funding has not been a priority, the Government of Romania allocates the Ministry of National Defense, for the second consecutive year, two percent of GDP, and will steadily maintain this level at least through 2026, allowing for one of the eastern flank's most solid modernization and development processes to unfold," said Mihai Fifor. 

"NATO command centers and structures have been rendered operational in Romania, others will soon materialize - and I am referring here to the corps-level land component command - and our troops participate alongside allied and partner forces in most complex missions in the theaters of operations or train in large-scale multinational exercises. All these measures will strengthen Romania's capacity of defense as a NATO member on the eastern flank, will gradually increase our country's capacity to respond to any threat in the region, strengthening its profile as a pole of stability at the Black Sea," said Fifor. 

He emphasized that the measures aimed at the Romanian Army's modernization cannot be implemented without pragmatic and effective solutions for providing adequate, well-prepared, top-capability human resources. 

The minister also pointed out in his address that Romanian Army Day, that is celebrated on October 25, will be honored with wreath-laying ceremonies in Paulis and Carei, in Bucharest and all the big cities, in memorial war cemeteries in the country or abroad, and tributes will be paid to the nation's heroes fallen in the great wars.