AGERPRES

President Iohannis: We moved to 2.5pct of GDP for defence and we will stay there or even grow

Bucharest, July 11 /Agerpres/ – Romania has a much superior endowment in the field of defence, troops are increasingly better prepared and we are also working on the infrastructure in our military bases that are relevant for NATO, President Klaus Iohannis stated on Tuesday.

He stated, in Vilnius, where he is participating in the NATO Summit on Tuesday, Wednesday, that it is possible that, in the coming years, the allocation for defence to increase even more.

“We have a much superior endowment, we have increasingly better prepared military personnel, and we are also working on infrastructure everywhere in all our bases, and I’m referring now to those large bases that are also relevant for NATO. We are working, expanding, modernising, improving the endowment. All these things are possible because we have allocated 2pct of the GDP for defence since 2016, the decision being from 2015, and starting this year we have moved to 2.5pct of the GDP and we will stay like that. In fact, it is really possible that we will grow from here too in the coming years,” said the head of state.

According to him, 2pct of the GDP for defence should not be the ceiling, but should be the starting point when talking about the allocation of budgetary resources for this field.

“This issue will remain under discussion, but we have taken our role very seriously,” the President said.