At the summit, which began in Warsaw on Friday and is continuing on Saturday, the heads of state or government of the 28 member countries of NATO agreed to set up a Romanian-Bulgarian multinational brigade.

The brigade will be in charge of keeping the balance in southeastern Europe and the Black Sea region, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is quoted as saying by BGNES news agency.

The leaders of the Alliance also adopted a decision for the balanced expansion of NATO's military presence in the Black Sea region and southeastern Europe.

This is fully in line with the Bulgarian call for enhanced presence of the Alliance in the Black Sea, which had been expressed earlier by President Rosen Plevneliev, who is heading the Bulgarian delegation at the summit.

The Romanian-Bulgarian multinational brigade will serve as a basis for preparation of the multinational forces of the Alliance.

NATO's presence in the region is further enhanced through greater air policing and measures in support of Turkey, in particular stationing elements of the Ballistic Missile Defence and AWACS planes.

Also on Friday, the leaders approved the deployment of four battalions to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on rotational basis starting from next year.