Moldova maintains neutrality but will strengthen cooperation with NATO – Observer

Moldova’s Foreign Minister Nico Popescu said on Tuesday that Moldova will maintain its neutrality, but will work to deepen its cooperation with NATO to ensure its defense capability.

Moldova is a neutral country, But neutrality does not mean isolation. On the contrary, it is necessary to invest in the defense of our countryPopescu said, citing the portal Protv.md.

The Moldovan minister also noted that his country signed an association agreement with NATO in 2016.

In response to a question at a press conference with the British Minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, about the possibility of applying for the country to join NATO, as the Ukrainian president did last week, the Moldovan diplomacy chief confined himself to saying that his country “needs to continue”. to strengthen this bond.”

“This involves strengthening defense and deepening cooperation in this field,” the Moldovan minister said. According to the diplomat, for residents of Moldova, “it is important that they feel protected”.

For this, we need modern defense tools, both in the military and in the electronic, economic and energy fields. This also means modernizing our defense capabilities according to the highest international standards, he explained.

The head of Moldovan diplomacy defended the need to deepen cooperation with partners “who support independence, territorial integrity, freedom and democracy” in Moldova. To this end, Chisinau is in dialogue with the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky applied for NATO membership on September 30 in response to Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.

Zelensky signed the application for membership in the alliance, by urgent procedure, at the conclusion of an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council in Kyiv, arguing that Ukraine and NATO are already de facto allies and that the Kyiv army is complying. Necessary requirements.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in turn, said that the gates of NATO “remain open” to Ukraine, but reminded Kyiv that there is a process that must be followed to join NATO.

Moreover, Blinken avoided answering whether his country would support an urgent action to join NATO, such as the one that Sweden and Finland followed this year.