On Thursday, September 29th, New Strategy Center experts, who are in the US, had several meetings in the Congress.
These meetings were a good opportunity to share NSC representatives’ perspectives on the security situation in the Black Sea region, the potential effects of the war in Ukraine on the free movement of ships, and the findings of a recent study by the NSC and the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) on the strategic importance of Snake Island. NSC experts discussed these issues with Congressmen Robert Aderholt (R-Alabama) and John Moolennar (R-Michigan), both members of the House Committee on Appropriations, one of the most influential congressional committees shaping US budget policy.
A similar exchange took place with House Energy Committee member Congressman Tim Walberg. The NSC team highlighted the potential of Romania’s strategic energy projects, such as the exploitation of Black Sea gas and Romanian-American cooperation in the civil nuclear sphere, on this occasion. The relevance of the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project in Romania, as well as the development of reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, were also stressed during the NSC team meeting.
Finally, the NSC experts met with Patrick Flood, the principal military advisor to Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE), a member of the Committee on Armed Services.
Together with the NSC team, HE Andrei Muraru, Ambassador of Romania to Washington, endorsed the themes of interest in the interaction with US congressmen, emphasizing the necessity of the adoption in the US Congress of the legislative measure establishing the US Black Sea strategy.
On Friday, September 30th, the NSC experts took part in a briefing for the staff of members of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. They provided their own evaluations of developments in the Black Sea region in the light of Ukraine’s war on this occasion. Some of the features outlined in the research “The Strategic Importance of Snake Island,” done by the New Strategy Center and the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), were also discussed.
George Scutaru, CEO New Strategy Center, Dr. Antonia Colibăşanu, Senior Associate Expert New Strategy Center, and Izel Stănculescu-Selim, Program Director New Strategy Center all took part in these conversations.
The NSC team is in the United States this week for a series of events as part of the New Strategy Center’s efforts to improve the understanding of the regional strategic context and to promote Romania’s security interests as well as the strategic cooperation between Romania and the United States.