State Committee on Development of National Defense Strategy Ratifies the NDS Draft

CHISINAU, September 9, 2016 — Today, the State Committee responsible for the development of the National Defense Strategy (NDS) unanimously approved the NDS draft, during a meeting held at the Ministry of Defense.

Minister of Defense, Anatol Salaru, chairperson of the Committee on development of the NDS, thanked each institution for the interest shown in approaching this issue and for their commitment. The Minister also thanked the NATO experts for fundamental contribution to drawing the lines of action of the defense sector and to developing the document itself.

Minister Salaru mentioned that the National Defense Strategy is a guideline for the representatives of the institutions directly involved in the defense sector, as well as a manual for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. “The NDS will stop a period of serious absence in the defense sector and will be a starting point for a series of actions of reformation, modernization, and adjustment of the defense sector to a new geopolitical context”, said the Defense Minister.

The head of the strategic defense reformation team, responsible for the implementation of the DCBI assistance package, Keith A. Dunn, stated that the document’s development is a first step towards the defense sector reformation.

According to Mr. Dunn, the following step should be the development of the Military Strategy — a document that contains a detailed assessment of the military sector’s real needs, the armed forces’ organization, as well as the financial situation. He said that the experts’ team will continue to assist the Ministry of Defense in the DCBI framework.

The document was presented to the Committee by State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Aurel Fondos, who addressed the document’s content, legal base, its importance, the development process, as well as the future actions.

The State Secretary also mentioned that the draft was assessed and publicly debated by security and defense experts from the associative and academic environment. Their recommendations were included in the NDS in order to improve the document.