​MOLDOVA PREMIER AND NATO SECRETARY GENERAL SIGN AGREEMENT ON OPENING NATO OFFICE IN CHISINAU

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will open its Bureau in Chisinau as per the Agreement signed on Tuesday in Brussels by Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“It is my conviction that the NATO Bureau opening will promote a better using of the potential of our cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance by means of realization of current and new projects that can be put into reality with NATO’s support”, said the Moldovan Prime Minister.

Jens Stoltenberg said the Bureau will be an important link between NATO and Moldova.

In his words, it will be an instrument for a direct political dialog and an instrument for strengthening the country’s armed forces. The Bureau will be a small office, employing only a civilian staff. Stoltenberg stressed: this will be cooperation, not imposition of NATO priorities or of Moldova’s membership in the Organization, and “We thus want to show that we support the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova”.

The Secretary General emphasized that NATO will never recognize the independence of Transnistria.

“NATO member states respect the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova, therefore we do not recognize Transnistria – we recognize only the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders”, Jens Stoltenberg stated at a news conference in Brussels.

As already reported by Infotag, Moldovan Minister of Defense Anatol Salaru and outgoing President Nicolae Timofti stood up repeatedly for NATO Bureau opening in Chisinau and for invigoration of multifaceted cooperation between Moldova, the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance. On their initiative, the Moldovan Parliament voted last July for opening such office, and President Timofti issued a Decree on launching negotiations and on approving the signature of an Agreement between Moldova and the Organization on the establishment of a NATO Bureau in Moldova.

Salaru wrote in the social networks yesterday: “I welcome this decision that is really historic for Moldova. The opening of a NATO Bureau in Chisinau is one of priorities of my ministerial mandate and is opening new possibilities for modernization of the national army and the whole Moldovan security system. In the present-day regional context, the NATO Bureau opening in Chisinau is evidence that our external partners trust in the incumbent Moldovan authorities and in the geo-strategic significance of the Republic of Moldova”.

A few days ago, president-elect Igor Dodon stated firm intention to achieve rigorous observance of Moldova’s neutrality, which he perceives as a fundamental constitutional principle. He also promised to discharge the incumbent Minister of Defense, Anatol Salaru, standing for Moldova’s accession to NATO and for the republic’s unification with Romania.

Negotiations on opening a NATO Bureau in Chisinau began yet in 2014. Moldova’s then-Permanent Representative at NATO Mihai Gribincea was saying that thanks to such office the Moldovan authorities will come to have a direct link with NATO representatives and that the North Atlantic Alliance will be receiving first-hand information about developments in Moldova, which convenience should facilitate the revealing of the needs of the reform of the defense and security sectors.

Mihai Gribincea, who is Moldova’s Ambassador to Bucharest presently, still believes that the Bureau opening will highlight the country’s political desire to work hand in hand with the North Atlantic Alliance but, simultaneously, to preserve the country’s neutral status.