VZCZCXRO0382
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHNO #0076/01 0381052
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 071052Z FEB 07
FM USMISSION USNATO
TO RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU PRIORITY 0116
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0454
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE

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