Estonian MPs Visit Ministry of Defense

CHISINAU, October 31, 2011 — Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta met Monday, October 31, with the members of the National Defense Committee of the Estonian Parliament within the cooperation partnership agreement between the parliamentary defense committees. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Defense Headquarters.

During the dialogue with the political-military leadership, the Estonian delegation familiarized with national defense and security policies and discussed about the regional security issue.

Thus, Vitalie Marinuta reiterated the intention of the Moldovan authorities to promote a good neighboring policy and strengthen regional stability. The Minister of Defense referred to the need of durable settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and the position of the Republic of Moldova Government about the role of peacekeeping mission, the decrease of the military factor in the region and the launch of negotiations about changing it into an international civil mission.

The Minister of Defense spoke about the Ministry’s of Defense achievements throughout this year and listed the National Army priorities in term of military reform process. Vitalie Marinuta also appreciated Estonia’s support in training the National Army staff within the Estonian National Defense College from Tartu.

The members of the National Defense Committee of the Estonian Parliament thanked the Minister of Defense for the meeting and appreciated the policies implemented by the Republic of Moldova Government. The Estonian delegation pointed out their readiness to support Moldova in term of strengthening democratic processes and reaching the European integration objective, given the fact the Chisinau Government’s achievements are quite encouraging.

At the end of the meeting, the officials pledged for a further fruitful bilateral cooperation between Republic of Moldova and Estonia mainly focusing on the defense area, which is definitely a significant item of cooperation between states.

It is worth mentioning that, the Republic of Moldova Ministry of Defense and the Estonian Defense Ministry concluded October 19, 2011, a Defense Cooperation Agreement. The document was signed in Tallinn by Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta and his Estonian counterpart, Mart Laar, during the official visit of the Republic of Moldova Prime Minister Vladimir Filat to the Baltic States, Estonia and Lithuania.