Romanian leader to NATO official: we’ll spend 2% on defence

BUCHAREST, Romania – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has promised a senior NATO officer that Romania will spend 2 per cent of its GDP on defence this year in line with guidelines from the alliance.

Iohannis met NATO Military Committee head Gen. Petr Pavel and British and Romanian pilots and technicians at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base near the Black Sea Thursday, reiterating Romania’s pledge to spend the money.

The military personnel are servicing RAF Typhoon fighter jets at the air base. Pavel is on a two-day visit to Romania.

U.S. Army-led NATO exercises in Eastern Europe are underway in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary involving 25,000 military personnel from more than 20 allied and partner countries.

The U.S. is seeking to reassure NATO’s European allies after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014.