Eurasia Press & News
Romania and the United States signed a missile defence agreement during President Traian Basescu’s visit to Washington on Tuesday (September 13th). The accord is being widely hailed in Bucharest as a major security breakthrough.
It was signed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Romanian counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Baconschi.
“Once the agreement is ratified, the United States will build, maintain, and operate in Romania the land-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System … which will help protect the entire continent and augment the security of the United States,” Clinton said.”With the support of the Romanian parliament and people, we anticipate deploying the completed system as part of the second phase of European missile defence in approximately four years.”
“The agreement we have just signed will position Romania as a central player in NATO’s evolving missile defence capability,” she added.
The two countries first discussed setting up such a system in October 2009, when US Vice-President Joe Biden visited Bucharest. In February 2010, Washington officially invited Bucharest to join the antimissile shield by hosting SM-3 type ground interceptors.
After seven rounds of negotiations, during which the location of the US military base was established, the text of the agreement was finalised in June 2011.
Addressing the Romanian people, President Basescu highlighted the importance of the accord.
“The agreement, once in place, raises Romania’s security level to its highest ever in the country’s history,” Basescu said.
He also pledged his commitment to publishing the content of the agreement after consultations with the State Department. “I want to remove any speculation concerning secret annexes. It is the Romanian State’s obligation to inform its citizens about the content of the agreement.”
Also during the visit, Basescu and US President Barack Obama signed a Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century.
Political analysts in Romania said the country will now be better poised to meet today’s security challenges.
“What the US-Romania Ballistic Missile Defence Agreement brings to Romania, with the United States firmly pledging to defend Romania in case of an attack, is a significantly enhanced level of security, one without precedent in the Romanian history,” Cristian Campeanu, head of the foreign affairs department at Romania Libera, told SETimes.
“The two countries are moving their political relationship to the next level of co-operation that goes beyond the military-intelligence-security issues that — until now — characterised bilateral relations for the most part,” he added.
