On 5 and 6 November 2025, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Romania. He met the President of Romania, Nicuşor Dan, on Wednesday (5 November). In a joint press conference following their meeting, the Secretary General thanked Romania for its contributions to Alliance defence and security, including leadership in the context of Black Sea security.
He also praised Romania for its commitment to increasing defence spending and its support for Ukraine. “Romania is invested in NATO – and, let me be clear, NATO is invested in Romania,” the Secretary General said. He later met with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and other senior national representatives.
On Thursday (6 November), the Secretary General addressed the NATO-Industry Forum, NATO’s premier outreach event with industry.
Entitled “Rearming NATO – Innovate, Accelerate, Sustain,” the conference brought together senior NATO civilian and military leaders, national policymakers, and executives from across the defence, security and deep-tech industries. It built on the decisions taken by Allies at the NATO Summit in The Hague in June with the aim to help strengthen NATO’s cooperation with defence industry and foster defence industry readiness to meet Allies’ needs.
“There simply is no strong defence without a strong defence industry,” the Secretary General stressed, emphasising that cooperation with industry is key as Allies increase defence investment to 5% GDP by 2035 and ramp up defence industrial production. “We are now turning these decisions into action, and for this, we need you,” he said.
“Russia will remain a destabilizing force in Europe and the world,” he cautioned, including through cooperation with countries such as China, Iran and North Korea that are “preparing for long term confrontation,” the Secretary General said. “We cannot be naive. We must be prepared,” he warned, expressing confidence in the ability of NATO and industry “to out-gun, out-produce and out-smart those that seek to harm or diminish us”. Accelerating and expanding defence production, while leveraging innovation and strengthening cooperation, including with like-minded partners, will drive Allies’ efforts. The Secretary General called on industry to “be ready to step up supply, expand existing production lines and open new ones,” assuring them of NATO’s commitment to expedite procurement and support innovation.
After the Forum, the Secretary General met with students at the University of Bucharest, with whom he discussed current and future security challenges and how NATO is addressing them.
