Iohannis at the ceremony marking the full operationalisation of the Multinational Corps South-East command in Sibiu.

Romania will continue to contribute to improving regional and Euro-Atlantic security, including through its role as a pillar of stability in the Black Sea, Romania's President Klaus Iohannis told the participants in a ceremony marking the full operationalisation on Monday of the Multinational Corps South-East command in Sibiu.The message was delivered by Mihai Somordolea, state adviser with the National Security Department of the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) Secretariat."The command of the Multinational Corps South-East in Sibiu is today able to fulfill its mission and role within the NATO deterrence and defence posture on the eastern flank, in the Black Sea region. It is an important moment for Romania that we reached through national and allied efforts supported and combined on political, diplomatic and military levels and benefiting from the valuable contributions of our allies."The President added that in 2018, at the NATO Summit in Brussels, he announced Romania's intention to round up the NATO command and control architecture on the national soil with a corps-level ground capability in order to strengthen the planning and mode of operation of the NATO forces and departments in Romania - a NATO Force Integration Unit, the Headquarters Multinational Division Southeast (HQ MND-SE) and the Multinational Brigade South-East."This approach of Romania has been welcomed and supported by the military authorities of NATO and by the allies, as in the case of other national initiatives that concern the adaptation of NATO to the new security environment and strengthening the deterrence and defense posture on the eastern flank, such as NATO's forward presence in the Black Sea region and the NATO battlegroup from Romania."Iohannis went on to say that a priority objective remains the long-term strengthening of NATO's deterrence and defence posture in the Black Sea, which is based on the historic decisions from the Madrid Summit and those adopted this year in Vilnius.According to him, "our unity and solidarity as allies are crucial, especially amidst the illegitimate and brutal war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine.""The recent attacks on the Ukrainian civilian port infrastructure on the Danube, reprehensible war crimes, increase the security risks at Romania's borders and, implicitly, at NATO's borders," said Iohannis.He added that NATO is the most powerful political and military organisation in history.