The Belgian Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder, is in Romania today, where she will visit, together with her Romanian counterpart, Vasile Dîncu, the 57th Air Base in Mihail Kogălniceanu (southeast). Elements of the Belgian detachment, part of the NATO Response Force (NRF) activated by the North Atlantic Council on February 25, arrived in Romania on March 7th. The military convoy joined the French detachment of the NATO Response Force, already deployed at the the 57th Air Base. NATO has activated defense plans to strengthen the command and control of Allied forces and to facilitate the rapid response of military capabilities along the Allied borders. In total, 500 French and 300 Belgian soldiers, part of the ground component of the NATO Response Force, will join the Romanian military in a bid to strengthen the Alliance’s Eastern Flank.
