00:00So the first question I'd like to ask you is about US President Donald Trump. How reliable
00:05is he of an ally when it comes to Romanian security, particularly in the Black Sea,
00:09as well as support for Ukraine? What do you think?
00:12We have an excellent relation with the United States. As you know, there are about a thousand,
00:20thousand and a half American soldiers in Romania. And we plan to expand that relation
00:30on the defence side and on the economical side. On the defence side, I think it's a
00:36mutual benefit between us because we have an excellent position to project force towards
00:43other parts of the world. So you're optimistic? Yes, on the bilateral relation. Of course.
00:50And you've been in Brussels for two days of European Council talks, and you also met with
00:55NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as your Bulgarian counterpart, Ruman Radev.
01:01Coming out of these two days of talks, how is the Black Sea going to be more secure? What are
01:06you
01:06going to actually implement to make sure that those commercial shipping vessels and seafarers are safe
01:12from those drones? So, as always, after the starting of this war, there are phases when we have to react.
01:26Yes, so first we had there have been drones. It started air drones on our territory. It started
01:34something like one year and a half ago. We are not prepared for that. We ask inside the NATO for
01:42for the support of our allies. We receive some support. Also, we will have a permanent solution after buying
01:50the capabilities that we already ordered during safe program. So now at the Black Sea, we are in the
01:59same situation. We didn't believe that we have to protect the water under our territory. We opened
02:09already the discussion with our allies, and I'm very optimistic that we will have the support,
02:16the capabilities in order to better protect, because it's an important economical question for
02:23Ukraine and for the whole region. When will the Black Sea be safe? Hopefully when the war will stop.
02:33Until then, to have some corridors of safe transport, it will be soon. And my final question. The Bulgarian
02:41Prime Minister, Rimen Radev, has taken a different approach when it comes to supporting Ukraine. He
02:46supports the diesel deal between the United States and Russia, as well as opening up diplomatic channels
02:51to speak with Putin. How are you going to make sure that security can be achieved in the Black Sea
02:57when
02:57you both have seemingly diverging opinions when it comes to Russia? No, we do not have a divergent opinion.
03:08We always said that negotiation, discussion with Russia is good. The question is if Russia want to
03:18negotiate, at least set the fire. And it's not the case right now. So it's for that that we have
03:26to
03:26continue to put pressure with the sanctions and to continue to support Ukraine. I think we are on the
03:32same page. Thank you so much, Mr. President.
03:35Thank you, Mr. President.
