NATO faces many security challenges in an increasingly dangerous and competitive world. China uses its economic and military power to coerce other countries and control its own people. The global balance of power is changing. In addition, we face more frequent and more dangerous cyber attacks, a persistent terrorist threat, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and a climate crisis with a profound impact on security. This is the message delivered by NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana in an online speech at the international conference “Perspectives for partnership and security through cooperation in the NATO 2030 agenda”.
The event was organized by the Information and Documentation Center on NATO, in partnership with the NATO Liaison Office in Moldova, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the Ministry of Defense and the State University of Moldova. The conference is part of the NATO Days in Moldova – a project of public diplomacy activities, aimed at promoting the security culture and intensifying information about the importance of Moldova’s cooperation with NATO, IPN reports.
In Mircea Geoana’s opinion, in this part of the world no challenge is more obvious than the Russian Federation. “Russia is taking aggressive action against its neighbors and is trying to intervene and divert the meaning of our democracies. It continues its massive military consolidation, from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, to the Mediterranean Sea. Russia is using economic pressure, including energy supply, as we have seen very recently, propaganda and misinformation, as well as military force, in an attempt to influence its neighbors. Therefore, strengthening resilience, combating misinformation, further strengthening the state institutions of the Republic of Moldova and the persevering effort to fight corruption, are the measures to respond to this type of challenges and pressures. As in Ukraine or Georgia, Russia keeps troops in the Republic of Moldova without the consent of the Moldovan government. NATO allies continue to call on the Russian Federation to withdraw its troops in accordance with its international commitments.”
“Because the time of areas of influence has long passed in Europe. We strongly support the right of all countries, including the Republic of Moldova, to make independent foreign and security policy choices, free from external pressures or constraints,” said the NATO official.
Mircea Geoana noted that the NATO 2030 Agenda aims at consolidating both NATO and national resilience as the first line of defense. “The pandemic has shown how quickly and how deeply our societies can be affected by an unexpected shock. We need to make sure that our nations are able to prevent, resist and recover from such shocks now and in the future. Where would these shocks come from? We are improving our technological advantage, investing more and more in the most advanced new technologies - from artificial intelligence to biotechnology, or quantum computers. We are developing a Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to facilitate transatlantic cooperation and technology exchanges critical to our collective security. At last month’s meeting of defense ministers, we launched the new NATO Innovation Fund worth billions of dollars, which, together with DIANA, is designed to attract additional private sector funding to make the most of civilian innovation for our security and to strengthen the technological connection between Europe and North America, said Geoana.
Mircea Geoana announced that the next NATO Strategic Concept will be adopted in June 2022, at the NATO summit in Madrid, to replace the one from 2010.
