PM says Moldova neutral, yet not isolated country

Chisinau, 18 October /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Pavel Filip today had a meeting with President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Rasa Jukneviciene. The officials discussed the development of Moldova’s security and defence capacities, in the context of the challenges from the region, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.     

„The fact that Moldova, under its Constitution, is a neutral country does not mean that we want to be an isolated country. On the contrary, we want a quite close cooperation with the NATO; we want to learn, we want to train our servicemen and to participate in joint international exercises,” Pavel Filip said. “The neutrality was not our choice. It was imposed by the involvement of the Russian military forces in the conflict at Dniester. These forces, unfortunately, have not left the territory of Moldova so far, despite the repeated appeals of our country and the international community and Russia’s commitments.”     

For her part, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Rasa Jukneviciene said the institution he led can put at Moldova’s disposal the needed expertise and experience to cope with the new risks and challenges from the region, especially the ones dealing with Russia’s involvement. “The NATO is not an alliance for war. It is an alliance for peace. An alliance for democracy,” the official noted. PM Pavel Filip confirmed this fact, highlighting the NATO projects implemented in Moldova, such as the one on evacuation of stocks of dangerous pesticides.    

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is an inter-parliamentary organization, which presently brings together lawmakers from those 29 member states of the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as from 12 NATO associate member countries. Moldova has been associate member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since November 1994.