The Parliament of Moldova has ratified an agreement on defense cooperation with France, the head of the republic’s legislative body, Igor Grosu, said on Thursday.
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An agreement between the governments of Moldova and France on defense cooperation was signed in Paris on March 7, 2024. This is already the second similar agreement between the countries. The first was signed in 1998. Parliament ratified the agreement in the first reading on April 25.
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“The bill on the ratification of the agreement on cooperation between Moldova and France in the field of defense was approved in the second (final) reading by the votes of 54 deputies,” Grosu said.
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The agreement provides that the parties will cooperate in areas such as defense policy, organization and functioning of the armed forces, training, including linguistic, joint deployment and participation in international missions and operations, including peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, military information technology and telecommunications, airspace control and management, logistics support.
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In March, French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would open a permanent defense mission in Chisinau in the coming months. He noted that this is only the first stage, which will be complemented by joint work in other areas, such as in the fight against disinformation and cyber attacks.
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According to the Constitution of Moldova, the republic has a neutral status, but since 1994 the country has been cooperating with NATO under an individual partnership plan. In addition, with the coming to power of the Action and Solidarity party, whose informal leader is President Maia Sandu, the country began to conduct frequent exercises with the participation of military personnel from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, and Romania.
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Representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Moldova also stated that they would like to strengthen the country’s defense capability and acquire the necessary weapons for this. In particular, Defense Minister Anatoly Nosaty spoke about the need to create an air defense system. Sandu herself, in an interview with local publications, emphasizes that the republic needs to continue the discussion about rapprochement with NATO, since this supposedly helps strengthen the country’s defense capability.
