The Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos met today, during the first day of his visit to Moldova, with his counterpart Vitalie Marinuta. After the meeting the two Ministers had, and the discussions which took place among the two counties’ delegations, the following statements were made:
V. MARINUTA: I would like to thank you for your visit to my country, the republic of Moldova, and for our meeting.
Dear Minister, your visit takes place while we are expecting the visit of the Prime Minister of Greece.
As far as our discussions are concerned, I would like to express my sincere thanks for our exchange of views on our bilateral relations, but also on the continuance of our cooperation in military training between our Ministries.
Since 1995, when a cooperation agreement was signed, numerous personnel of my country’s Armed Forces have visited the Hellenic Republic for educational purposes. Your contribution to the formation of our national defence system has been significant.
I would also like to refer to the personnel who are getting ready to depart with the KFOR mission to Kosovo, under the leadership of a Moldovan Lieutenant Colonel who has graduated from the Hellenic Military Academy.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the entire Greek delegation that visited our country. I am convinced that the results of our discussions will give a new boost to our cooperation and will soon be reflected in the relations between our countries.
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I would like to express my warmest thanks to my colleague, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Moldova Mr. Vitalie Marinuta, for his very cordial reception and the friendly, deep, sincere, fruitful and constructive discussions we had today.
I met today for the first time a very promising and inspired politician, inspired from the love for his country of course, but also linked to me in our common European dreams and perspectives.
As we all know, our two nations are historically bound with close ties of friendship, forged throughout the centuries with their struggles for freedom, national independence and social justice.
Us Greeks, we keep in our heart and our minds that after the fall of Constantinople, thousands of Greeks at that time, moving to the north, arrived here in Moldavia, while eminent Phanariote Greeks had been assigned as governors of the two United Principalities of Moldavia and Walachia. We Greeks, as a historical nation, we have a very strong historical and sentimental memory.
At that time, in your hospitable country, Greeks found a friendly and warm reception, living in an environment of full freedom and cordial hospitality. Even more important, we never forget that the very first Hellenic Flag of the Independence Struggles was raised in your country. It was in February 1821, when Alexander Ypsilantis moving from Russia to Moldavia announced the outbreak of the Greek Revolution.
The relations between our two countries are based on mutual respect, trust, solidarity and friendship. My visit here today brings a message from Greece; that it is our will, but also the will of the Moldavian Government to enlarge, deepen and enhance our bilateral relations. It marks a new beginning and opens a new chapter of cooperation.
Especially in the field of Defence, we have decided to move ahead and cooperate closely, in order to promote our relations. Of course, it is obvious and it is our duty, and a primary goal that we must serve as Defence Ministers and as defence systems, is to defend the integrity of our countries. But, at the same time, we have one more goal; to serve and promote peace, stability, cooperation and friendship in our region.
During our discussions, we explored all possible ways to promote, update, upgrade and enhance our bilateral cooperation.
Greece has one of the best, more capable, efficient and modern defence systems in Europe. We have the expertise, the know-how, the infrastructure and we believe that it would be to the benefit of the Moldova’s defence system to work together with us.
In this spirit, I extended an invitation to my Moldovan colleague to visit Greece as soon as possible, in order to further determine the framework of this cooperation.
As you know, during this semester, Greece is presiding over the European Council. And I am here today in order to extend one more message; that we believe and we have decided in order to pave the way for the European perspective of Moldova.
This is the first step. Very soon, the Prime Minister of Greece Mr. Antonis Samaras is going to pay a visit to your country, and put the framework of our cooperation within Europe.
I gave this assurance to my friend Vitalie that Greece is determined and ready to cooperate with Moldova to this direction.
I would like once again to express my warmest thanks to the Minister, for this very cordial and warm hospitality he has offered to me and the members of my delegation; also to encourage and urge our Chiefs of Staff to work together, in preparing your visit to Athens. When the moment comes, I will be really very happy to offer you my hospitality in the capital of Greece.
Thank you very much.