Poverty regarded as grater threat than Transnistrian dispute in Moldova

The poverty is now in Moldova a greater threat than the Transnistrian conflict, Dorin Panfil, of the Foreign Ministry, said during the public debates on the updated National Security Strategy. The document was worked out by a group of representatives of the civil society, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Info-Prim Neo reports. “It is for the first time that we reached such a conclusion. It is one of the new elements included in the project,” said Dorin Panfil, the head of the Ministry's NATO and Political-Military Cooperation Division. According to the official, the authors managed to remove a number of shortcomings from the initial National Security Strategy. Compared with the document formulated in 2008, the version proposed for discussion is based on a thorough analysis of the dangers threatening the country. The document provides solutions for remedying the economic situation and reducing poverty. For the first time, steps were taken to strengthen the capacity to protect the national electronic networks that keep information, including personal data. A new element is the external coercion, which is defined as a threat to the national security. In this connection, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Popov said that unlike the previous text, the adjusted strategy contains much clearer terms. “The strategy outlines the criteria that the national security system must meet, like building up the democratic institutions and principles in the country, the economic growth, establishing good relations with the neighboring countries,” the deputy minister said. Vitalie Grosu, the head of the NATO Information and Documentation Center that housed the public debates, said the document is important as it defines the normative framework for guaranteeing national security. “We welcome the fact that the authorities invited the civil society to pronounce on this document as this will help identify optimal ways of solving the national security problems,” Vitalie Grosu said. He also said that the strategy lays emphasis on the Transnistrian dispute and envisions consistently raising the issue within regional and international organizations, in particular the UN, the OSCE, the EU and the CE, so as to obtain support for Moldova's reintegration efforts. The document also says that Moldova's armed forces will develop conventional capacities to prevent, discourage and, if necessary, to respond to military aggression. So far, the working group has held nine meetings. The meeting at the NATO Information and Documentation Center closed the series of public debates. The National Security Strategy will be submitted to the Government for examination, then to the Parliament by mid-June.