Romania, US sign Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement
Date: 14-09-2011
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed Monday at the US Department of State in Washington an Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Romania on the Deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania. The signing took place in Washington, at the Department of State.The agreement was signed shortly after the meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama, Vicepresident Joe Biden and Romanian President Traian Basescu.Under this legally-binding agreement, a U.S. land-based SM-3 ballistic missile defense system is allowed to be established and operated in Romania.
On September 1, during the annual meeting of Romanian diplomats, Romania's President Traian Basescu warned the attending ambassadors that the ballistic missile defense agreement will be signed 'in a relatively short time.'
'Negotiations over the location of the elements of the missile shield in Romania have been completed and an agreement was initialled. Probably in a relatively short time, the agreement between Romania and the US will also be signed and then submitted to Parliament for ratification,' Basescu said back then.
He also underscored the importance of the NATO Summit to be held next year in Chicago, calling on the Romanian diplomats to make Romania's position known on the sidelines of the summit meeting.
'All the national diplomats of the NATO member states have to start off arrangements for the summit to end, from our point of view, with the adoption of a new concept of defence and deterrence and, as a second objective - making progress with achieving and implementing a NATO missile defence system. If these two goals are achieved, we can say the Chicago summit was a successful one as far as Romania is concerned,' Basescu added.
Following a meeting of Romania's Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT), on May 3, President Basescu announced that the U.S. missile defense system will be deployed at the Deveselu air base in southern Romania.
'We approved the location of the missile system at the former air base Deveselu, Olt County. The air base will stay under Romanian command and part of the base's area will be used up by U.S. ballistic defence system. The base commander will be a Romanian officer, because this is not a U.S. base but a military base of the Romanian Air Forces that will be partially used for the ballistic system. For the operation of the anti-missile system at Deveselu, an average of 200 US troops will be employed, with the maximum number of US troops deployed to this end not to exceed 500,' Basescu said back then.
Basescu also pointed out that the establishment the ballistic missile defence system is part of a US-Romanian bilateral agreement.
The military base at Deveselu, at the border between Romania and Bulgaria, was decommissioned in 2002. The military airport there covers an area of 500 hectares and is in serviceable conditions.
CSAT approved on February 4, 2010, an invitation from US President Barack Obama concerning Romania's participation in the U.S. missile defense system
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