"Security is more and more threatened by unconventional challenges"

The Minister of Defense, Nicolae Ciuca, believes that security is increasingly threatened by unconventional challenges, an example being the COVID-19 pandemic.

That is why, he says, defense and national security plans need to include strategies, together with spending and procurement, to deal with such situations. In this pandemic context, the Defense Minister said that some allies have increased investment in defense.

We need to adapt to the new realities, the minister added, warning that the current health crisis must not become a security one.

Nicolae Ciuca: We want to develop robust defense and deterrence potentiality, that's why we have programs for acquiring high quality capabilities and implementing artificial intelligence. Romania is in the fourth year in which it allocates 2% of the Gross Domestic Product for Defense and over 20% of the Defense budget is allocated to large-scale acquisitions. From this year until 2023 we have planned over 6 billion euros from the state budget for equipment of major importance, and this provides a solid basis for accelerating the process of modernization of the Romanian armed forces.

Minister Nicolae Ciuca made the statement at the Bucharest Forum debates, organized by the Aspen Institute and the George Marshall Fund.

Translated by: Radu Matei