Romania and the United States are making final adjustments to the agreement for setting up American military bases in Romania, prior to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice""s arrival in Bucharest for the signatory ceremony. The US already signed a similar agreement with Bulgaria and eyes south-eastern Romania as the next region where to expand its bases in the region.
"In fact, the negotiations between the two teams ended. The US State Department and the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs give the document the final reading, and only small details are yet to be settled. Signing the Agreement would be more an administrative task, really," commented President Traian Basescu yesterday, after meeting Stephen Hadley, adviser on security issues to the US President, George W. Bush.
The small details Basescu referred to are assessing if the Americans will come to Bucharest to sign the Agreement, and for the US Government to decide who will make that trip.
Sources first said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would come to Bucharest for the signatory ceremony, but later Riceâs name surfaced too.
Stephen Hadley stated that "significant progress had been made in drafting the document. We eagerly wait the speedy approval of this agreement," stated Hadley.
According to Basescu, the Americans zeroed in towards military bases in Babadag-Constanta and Fetesti.
Sources detailed the four bases the Americans envisage settling in are those in Babadag, the Constanta port, the Mihail Kogalniceanu airport and Fetesti.
The American Command Authority would be hosted at Kogalniceanu, where the rotation of American military in Iraq will be coordinated from.
The Americans will use the shooting range at Babadag for training their military prior to international missions, while the airport facilities in Fetesti will be used jointly by the Am