A new ammunition gunpowder production plant will be built in Romania.

Florin Spătaru, Minister of Economy of Romania, announced this, Stirile TVR reports.

The plant is planned to be built in cooperation with the United States and South Korea.

Spătaru pointed out that the last gunpowder plant in Romania was closed in 2004, after which the country was forced to import ammunition and gunpowder for the needs of its armed forces.

The Minister emphasized that the pandemic and the war led to the creation and implementation of a development plan for Romania’s industry, which considers new realities, and the country’s dependence on imports should be reduced.

“We will now create more production capacity to produce ammunition for both NATO and non-NATO countries,” Spătaru added.

The official noted that in addition to eight hundred million lei allocated by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Romania is also cooperating with American and South Korean companies to start the construction of a new gunpowder production plant.

Last November, it was reported that Romania and the Republic of Korea will establish defense cooperation.

The parties signed a protocol on their intentions to cooperate.

At the time, Romanian media speculated that Bucharest might be interested in purchasing Korean K2 main battle tanks, K21 infantry fighting vehicles, and K9A1 155mm self-propelled howitzers.

It was also assumed that another field of Romanian interests could be constructing a plant to produce explosive materials.

Romania’s Supreme Defense Council also decided to speed up military procurement programs and conduct more NATO military exercises in the country.