VIDEO Mark Rutte and Volodymyr Zelensky, in Bucharest. The B9 summit, hosted at Cotroceni, has begun.

Nicoleta Onofrei

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The B9 Summit in Bucharest, co-chaired by President Nicușor Dan and his Polish counterpart, Karol Nawrocki, began on Wednesday at Cotroceni, at 10:30, with the official reception of the heads of delegations.

President Nicușor Dan and his Polish counterpart, Karol Nawrocki, are receiving the delegations participating in the B9 summit, which starts at 11:00.

Romania is hosting the B9 Summit for the fourth time - after the inaugural edition in 2015, the hybrid format in 2021, and the one in 2022 - thus strengthening its status as a central actor in the security architecture of the Eastern Flank.

The President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, and NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, have already had meetings last night with President Nicușor Dan.

The list of announced participants is, in fact, the political snapshot of the eastern flank and Northern Europe: NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte; Presidents of Lithuania (Gitanas Nausėda), Estonia (Alar Karis), Czech Republic (Petr Pavel), Latvia (Edgars Rinkēvičs), Slovakia (Peter Pellegrini), Finland (Alexander Stubb); Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen; President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky; the U.S. representative at the undersecretary level for arms control, Thomas DiNanno; ministers and high-level representatives from Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

During the Summit, President Nicușor Dan will emphasize the importance of strategic coherence across the entire Eastern Flank, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, and will underline the necessity of implementing the commitments made in The Hague regarding increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP and strengthening the transatlantic defense industry's capacity.

At 17:00, joint press statements are expected from the President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, with the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, and NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte.

In parallel, President Nicușor Dan's partner, Mirabela Grădinaru, will receive, at the Cotroceni Palace, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Olena.