MOLDOVAN MINISTERS DISCUSS PARTNERSHIP, REGIONAL

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