Thank you so much, Mr. Vice-Chair, for drawing this line of similarity between Moldova and Ukraine.
According to our constitution, Moldova cannot join a military alliance, including NATO. However, we have excellent co-operation between the Republic of Moldova and NATO. A year and a half ago we opened a NATO liaison office for the first time in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova.
Even though there was some political debate about a neutral country having a NATO liaison office, this initiative was very strongly supported by my ministry, the government, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova. At this point there are no more debates, and the activity, the raising of awareness about the extraordinary co-operation we've have so far, and the potential to expand it, are extremely positive.
As you mentioned, Mr. Vice-Chair, the Republic of Moldova has been actively participating in peacekeeping operations. We have a special battalion at the Ministry of Defense, the 22nd battalion, for peacekeeping operations. And by the way, women and men are members of the battalion. I am a strong believer in a gender-balanced approach, including in peacekeeping operations.
We have expressed our interest in further participating in other peacekeeping operations. The upcoming one I think is in Mali, and I have had extensive conversations with our Minister of Defense to participate in Mali.
The priorities for the MOD in the Republic of Moldova in connection with NATO as an organization, but also with its member states, is to strengthen the capacity of the military in the Republic of Moldova to be more specialized, to be seamlessly integrated into NATO standards. That is why in the recent visit by the Minister of Defence of Romania, a neighbouring country of the Republic of Moldova and a NATO member, a decision was taken that Moldovan troops would participate in a joint Moldovan-Romanian battalion in peacekeeping operations as well. The target is to increase the standards of operations and to integrate the SOPs preparation level of the Moldovan military.
On the other hand, it is also the priority right now to strengthen the capacity of the Moldovan military in the cybersecurity field, and to work with centres of excellence in Italy, and also in Riga, if I'm not mistaken. The purpose is to be able to respond to the new security threats and challenges, including elements of hybrid war techniques, and that includes cybersecurity because Moldova is exposed to those threats, being one of the top 10 or top 12 countries in the world with the fastest Internet speed and widespread Internet usage. We need to have these certain elements to prevent a cyber-attack.