LIVE VIDEO NATO leaders, now gathered in Bucharest for the B9 summit. Zelenski also participates / What heads of state and government are at the event hosted by Nicușor Dan
The Secretary General of NATO and representatives of the USA, the Scandinavian states and the states on the eastern flank of NATO are meeting today at the Cotroceni Palace for the Bucharest 9 (B9) Summit and of the Nordic Countries, co-chaired by President Nicușor Dan and his Polish counterpart, Karol Nawrocki.
The overall theme of the event is “Delivering More for Transatlantic Security,” according to the Presidential Administration.
Hotnews will broadcast LIVE the most important moments of the event (TVR feed download):
President Nicușor Dan receives the delegations participating in the B9 summit in Cotroceni. The summit starts at 11.00.
“Very important day today at the Cotroceni Palace, where the 11th edition of the Bucharest Format Summit 9 (B9) is taking place, whose central theme is “Offering more for transatlantic security”, the Presidential Administration said.
“Applied discussions about our common security, from the Arctic and the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, with the B9 member states, our Nordic partners, the United States, Ukraine and the Secretary General of NATO are coming,” the Presidential Administration stated.
The original news
The first two officials who arrived in the Romanian capital are the president of Poland and the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, who had a working dinner with Nicușor Dan on Tuesday evening.
Nicușor Dan and Karol Nawrocki also held joint press statements, in which they spoke, among other things, about the importance of the relationship between the two countries, the possibilities of cooperation, the common visions in terms of security, the benefits of the possible expansion of the EU, but also the relevance of the format that gathers today in Bucharest representatives of the allied states.
The first B9 Summit in Bucharest after 2022
Bucharest has not been the host of the B9 Summit since 2022. Last year, the event was held in Vilnius, and Nicușor Dan also participated in the meeting. At that time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also present in the capital of Lithuania.
The leader from Kyiv is also participating in Wednesday's summit in Cotroceni. He is accompanied to Bucharest by his wife, who will have separate activities from the B9 program, official sources told HotNews.
According to the Presidential Administration, the B9 and Nordic Summit is attended by:
- NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte;
- The President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda;
- The President of the Republic of Estonia, Alar Karis;
- The President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel;
- The President of the Republic of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs;
- The President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini;
- The President of the Republic of Finland, Alexander Stubb;
- Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen;
- The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky;
- United States Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Thomas DiNanno;
- The Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Sweden, Pål Jonson;
- Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, Espen Barth Eide;
- Permanent Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Iceland, Benedikt Árnason;
- The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to NATO, Ambassador Nikolay Milkov;
- The Ambassador of Hungary to Romania, Kissné Hlatki Katalin.
Agenda of the event from Cotroceni
The summit begins at 10:30 a.m., when the heads of delegation are received, according to the schedule announced by the Presidential Administration.
The plenary session of the summit starts at 11:00, in the opening of which the President of Romania, Nicusor Dan, and his Polish counterpart, Karol Nawrocki, will make speeches.
At 14:20 there will be a “family photo”, and at 14:30 a working lunch.
At 17:00, President Nicusor Dan, together with Karol Nawrocki and the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, will have joint press statements.
The B9 format was launched in 2015 by the presidents of Romania and Poland at that time, Klaus Iohannis and Andrzej Duda, in the context of the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, as a platform for consultation and coordination of the positions of NATO countries on the eastern flank.
