September 6 (SeeNews) - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) said it fully respects Moldova’s constitutional neutrality and supports its independence and sovereignty.
"We know that Moldova has no desire to join NATO and we respect that decision entirely. We firmly believe that every nation has the right to set its own course. This includes choosing their own allies, or choosing not to align with any other countries," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, according to a press release issued by the organisation. Stoltenberg welcomed Moldovan president Igor Dodon to NATO headquarters in Brussels for talks on Thursday.
However, Stoltenberg stressed, neutrality does not mean isolation, or that NATO and Moldova cannot work together, as the organisation works closely with other neutral countries – such as Switzerland and Austria.
For his part, Dodon stressed that Moldova's neutral status means that the country could not join any military bloc, including NATO.
"On that basis, we plan to achieve recognition of the constitutional status of permanent neutrality of our country at the international level," Dodon added, as quoted in a press release issued by Moldova's presidency office.
NATO opened a liaison office in Moldova's capital Chisinau at the end of 2017. The office is a diplomatic mission which has no military implications, NATO's statement at the time read.
The tiny landlocked ex-Soviet state of Moldova, with population of some 3 million, has strong historical and political ties with its western neighbour Romania, with more than 75% of the population speaking Romanian. Around 10% of the population living predominantly in the internationally unrecognised separatist republic of Transnistria, which broke away from Moldova in the 1990s, speak Russian and identify themselves as Russians.
(1 euro=19.8042 Moldoval lei)