U.S. to enhance its military cooperation with Moldova
The United States will enhance its cooperation with the Republic of Moldova in the defense sphere, Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta stated at a news conference Monday upon return from Washington DC, where he held consultations last week.
In his words, the U.S. Department of Defense will build up its funding of education programs for the Moldovan military. In particular, the United States is ready to expand the Moldovan military's participation in the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, whose budget has by now reached US$9.5 million, and in whose frame 3 hundred army officers from Moldova have taken training courses, including Minister Marinuta himself.
He said that the United States is ready to build up the budgets of its assistance provided for Moldova in the framework of the Warsaw Initiative Fund and the Foreign Military Financing (FMF), and that Washington is interested in proceeding from cooperation in the sphere of defense and security with Moldova to "a higher level".
Also, Vitalie Marinuta said the Moldovan armed forces have an intention to consolidate military cooperation with Romania, and Chisinau and Bucharest are already negotiating resumption of training Moldovan cadets at Romanian military academies.
As for Russia, Minister Marinuta said military cooperation with it will continue on the basis of the existing bilateral plan, and "we want inter alia to preserve the practice of holding joint military exercises held once a year in Moldova and Russia. At the moment, two Moldovan cadets are receiving higher military education in the Russian Federation".
The minister failed to provide a clear answer to the question about the Moldovan military's participation in the peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan. He only said, "We intend to continue participating in international peacekeeping missions, for this promotes the professional growth of our officers and is good for Moldova's international image. However, to say concretely where we will go to, or when, or how, a political decision is needed".
Vitalie Marinuta presumes Moldova should share NATO's positive experience in the defense sphere. He said the NATO Partnership for Peace Program and the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) have proved their efficiency.
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