RSS
Republic of Moldova: Timofti sends parliament bill on opening NATO liaison office in Chisinau
Nicolae Timofti, the president of Moldova sent the parliament for ratification, the bill on the opening of NATO liaison office in Chisinau, the Chisinau press informed on Tuesday.
The information was confirmed by the general secretary of the Presidential Administration Ion Paduraru.
According to Paduraru, following the signing of accord between premier Pavel Filip and NATO general secretary Jens Stolrenberg, president Timofti’s legislative initiative is a formal one, being included in the law on international treatises.
Previously, Nicolae Timofti greeted, in a press release, the signing in Brussels of the accord about the opening in Chisinau of the NATO liaison office, which is, according to the head of the Moldovan state, “an important step in the context of political modernization in Moldova’s relations with NATO and maintaining the country’s neutral status.”
On Monday, Moldova’s government adopted the bill ratifying the accord on opening a NATO office in Chisinau, despite the opposition of Irina Vlah, the governor of autonomous region Gagauzia in the south of Moldova, who is part of the executive, according to the Constitution.
The accord must be ratified by parliament in order to come into force.
The accord about opening a NATO office in Chisinau was signed a week before in Brussels, by NATO general secretary Jens Stoltenberg and the premier of Moldova, Pavel Filip.
NATO liaison office will be important both for our political support and for the effective support of Moldova. It will be a small office, made of civilians, not a military base. We are talking about cooperation, not about imposing priorities or Moldova’s accession to NATO. NATO supports all countries’ rights to decide on their foreign policy and security. NATO fully respects Moldova’s neutrality, said the UN general secretary after signing the accord.