U.S. Assistant Secretary Nuland visits Bucharest today

Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland will be in Bucharest on Tuesday, January 13, where she will meet senior Romanian officials, members of the business community and civil society. Their talks will focus on bilateral and regional issues, according to a statement of the U.S. Department of State. On Thursday, January 15, Victoria Nuland will join U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for his visit to Sofia, Bulgaria, and will then accompany him for his visit to Paris, France. Victoria Nuland’s previous visit to Romania took place in January 2014, when she met the country’s former President Traian Basescu and Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean. This visit comes as Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis and the leaders of the largest political parties in Romania today signed an agreement to increase the budget spending for defence to over 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2017. This was one of the main requests Romania received from the U.S. last year as both the U.S. and NATO are looking to strengthen their military presence in Eastern Europe to counterbalance Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com