C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USNATO 000076

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2017
TAGS: MOPS NATO PREL MARR ML
SUBJECT: MOLDOVAN MINISTERS DISCUSS PARTNERSHIP, REGIONAL
ISSUES WITH NAC, JANUARY 31

REF: A. FM STRATAN REMARKS E-MAILED 02/06/07


B. MADRID 167 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Ambassador Victoria Nuland for reasons 1.4 (b), (d).

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (C) Moldovan Foreign Minister Stratan and Defense Minister
Plesca consulted with NATO Ambassadors in a January 31
"NAC 1" on Moldova's progress toward implementing its
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP). NATO SecGen de
Hoop Scheffer agreed that Chisinau had made a good start, and
called for steady, high-level engagement and building a
national consensus on strengthening ties with NATO. Beside
commenting on IPAP implementation, PermReps zeroed in on
Moldova,s acute problems with Russia and the frozen conflict
in Transnistria. Ambassador Nuland called on NATO Allies to
help Moldova stand up for its sovereignty, and for Moldova to
send Allies unambiguous signals about its commitment to
Euro-Atlantic integration. End Summary.

A REALISTIC IPAP STATUS REPORT
--------------

2. (C) FM Stratan assured the NAC that Moldova's democratic
reforms were irreversible (REF E-MAIL). He had convened a
meeting of the new, interagency IPAP Implementation
Commission on the eve of the visit. He provided a concise
status report on the four chapters of IPAP (1 ) Political
and Security; 2 ) Defense and Military; 3 ) Public
Information, Science, and Civil Emergency Planning; 4 )
Administrative and Resource Issues). Stratan reported that
2006 had been a record year for new legislation, including
electoral, public administration, anti-laundering,
privatization, and controversial audio-visual liberalization
laws.


3. (C) Stratan identified the main challenges toward
achieving IPAP objectives as severe resource constraints, a
legal basis for security sector reform, and the need to draft
an overarching National Security Concept (NSC). This would
provide the framework for setting out a National Military

Strategy and a Strategic Defense Review (SDR), which in turn
would guide force structure, acquisition, and personnel
decisions. Stratan announced the decision to seek
participation in the EUCOM-coordinated South Caucacus
Clearinghouse. Finally, he described the state of play on
Transnistria, voicing hope that the recent "3 2" talks in
Madrid (REFTEL) would lead to the resumption of "5 2" talks
to settle the status of the separatist region.


4. (C) DefMin Plesca told PermReps that Modovan society
supported deepening relations with NATO. He noted that
Moldova had hosted exercise Cooperative Lancer last year, and
that military implementation of IPAP had already begun.
Plesca stressed the prioity placed on improving defense and
security sector coordination, budgeting and personnel
management and asked Allies for assistance in Moldova's SDR.
He expanded on Stratan's summary of Moldova,s Security and
Defense reform plans.

ALLIES: FOCUSING ON THE CHALLENGES
--------------

5. (C) Romania, which serves as NATO's Contact Point Embassy
in Chisinau, endorsed Moldova's move to join a clearinghouse
mechanism. (NOTE: In fact, Romania was bitter that Moldova
had not followed its advice to press EUCOM to organize its
own clearinghouse.) Romanian Ambassador Ducaru asked for the
Minister's views on Moldova's EU and Euro-Atlantic accession
prospects. (NOTE: Moldova suffered from Romania's accession
to the EU, which eliminated visa-free travel to Romania and
preferential trade terms for it.) Ducaru also asked about
Moldova's energy security in light of Russia's cut-off of gas
supplies.


6. (C) Italy, Latvia, Spain, Poland, Turkey, the Netherlands,
Hungary, Czech Republic, and Lithuania followed with
additional questions about Moldova's ability to cope with
Russia's trade embargo, about efforts to draw parallels
between Kosovo and Transnistria, and possible Moldovan
contributions to NATO's International Security Assistance
Force in Afghanistan, as well as IPAP implementation queries.

U.S.: SUPPORT A FRIEND IN NEED
--------------

7. (C) Ambassador Nuland congratulated Stratan and Plesca for
the hard work they had led on launching implementation of
Moldova's IPAP. She stressed that this was not a tool for
NATO or Allies, but for Moldova's benefit. The critical
tasks for Moldova, she continued, were to mobilize the

USNATO 00000076 002 OF 002


political will necessary to achieve the practical but
ambitious goals set out in the IPAP. If Moldova succeeded in
mustering the will to accomplish these things, she continued,
Allies should be prepared to help it make the "leap" to
Euro-Atlantic institutions. She challenged colleagues to
lend their united support to Moldova ) not just in NATO, but
also within the EU, and bilaterally, as the U.S. was doing.
Calling Transnistria "one frozen conflict that can be settled
in 2007," she praised new OSCE Chair Spain,s initiative to
restart the 5 2 process.


8. (C) At a breakfast hosted by the Lithuanian Ambassador,
Stratan said his nation was "standing between two umbrellas"
(of the East and West), enjoying the protection of neither,
hence Ambassador Nuland's encouragement to choose integration
with the West. Ambassador Nuland urged Moldova to make
integration with the West its "unambiguous goal," and urged
European Allies in turn to help it, to leave the door open
and to not "leave her in the cold."

STRUGGLING ON AGAINST ADVERSITY
--------------

9. (C) Stratan responded with a sober assessment of Moldova's
challenges, both domestic IPAP implementation, and with its
troublesome neighbor Russia. Stratan told the NAC,
"incredible things are happening in this European state even
in the 21st century, when part of its territory is under a
criminal regime" supported by a neighbor. Despite
Transnistrian separatism and Russia's trade embargo, he said,
Moldova's economy still managed to grow, even to grow well.
Finally, he enumerated the differences between Transnistria
and Kosovo (e.g., the former having the same ethnic and
religious balance as Moldova, rather than the segregated,
oppressed, ethnically distinct population of the latter).
NULAND