Defence cooperation with European partners and intergovernmental organizations
The Republic of Moldova continues to strengthen its defense cooperation with European partners and intergovernmental organizations, which shows our country’s interest in deepening relations with the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union on the defense dimension.
On November 10-11, 2022, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Moldova paid a visit to France, a NATO and EU member country. The visit took place as part of the Moldovan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu, which participated in the “Peace Forum”.
According to the official website of the Ministry of Defense, during this visit, Mr. Anatolie Nosatii had a meeting with his counterpart from the French Republic Sebastien Lecornu. This is the first meeting between a French defense minister and a Moldovan defense minister since the independence of our country. The officials discussed strengthening cooperation between the two countries on the military segment. In particular, the assistance provided by France to Moldova through the European Peace Facility (EPF).
The same source informs that Defense Minister Nosatyi attended the meeting of the NATO Committee of Deputy Permanent Representatives, which took place at the NATO Headquarters on November 11, 2022.
During the event, Nosatsi held talks with Benedikta von Seherr Thoss, Director General for Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) and Crisis Response, European External Action Service (EEAS) and Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean, Director General of the European Union (EU) Military Staff.
At the event, topics were discussed, which concern the threats, which target the Republic of Moldova and the security situation in the country. At the same time, the military assistance provided to our country through the EPF and the NATO Defense Capability Strengthening Initiative (DCBI) were also discussed.
In the same vein, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration previously informed that the Republic of Moldova has been invited to the NATO Summit in Bucharest, which will take place on November 29-30, 2022. It is worth mentioning that our country is quite rarely invited to NATO summits, and this year’s invitation denotes an increased interest shown by both sides to strengthen cooperation in the security and defense segment.
In this context, there is a clear openness on the part of the Chisinau authorities to intensify and deepen existing partnerships in order to increase the defense capacity and, directly, the military capabilities of the Republic of Moldova. We can also see that the European Union and EU Member States are gradually assuming an increasing role in the field of defense, a segment which is usually considered the exclusive competence of NATO.