April 28 (SeeNews) - Moldova needs to make serious financial and logistical efforts to build a professional, modern and well-equipped military in order to be able to face the many security challenges in the region, president Maia Sandu said.
'"Moldova does not have an effective shield in the face of danger, because we have not developed adequate military capability, we have not built the critical elements of infrastructure and we have not cultivated social resilience," Sandu said on Wednesday in a statement marking the 30th anniversary of the creation of the General Staff of the National Army.
"A strong and well-equipped army gives the country freedom of action, self-confidence and strategic choices."
Sandu noted that Moldova is going through a very difficult period, but investments in the army are essential for the security and defense infrastructure of the state, with modernization efforts having to focus on human capacity, technical capacity and an integrated command and control system.
"We have a war right on our border, so we understand that very well. In this regard, Moldova must follow the example of other neutral states for the consolidation of the armed forces."
Moldova has allocated to defence spending 0.3% or 773 million lei ($42 million/ 39 million euro) of its 2022 gross domestic product (GDP), data posted on the finance ministry's website showed.
On Tuesday, Moldova raised the security alert at some critical institutions after explosions were reported in the breakaway region of Transnistria controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Maia Sandu stressed on Tuesday that Moldova does not plan a blockade of Transnistria, a strip of land between the Dniester river and Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine. After a violent separation of the region from Moldova in 1992, Russia stationed several thousand troops there to support the separatist republic.
On Monday, the Moldovan government said that blasts in and near Tiraspol, the administrative centre of Transnistria, are an attempt to heighten tensions in the country's breakaway region.
"The aim of today's incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities," Moldovan Office for Reintegration, a government institution tasked with carrying out the negotiation process with the separatist-controlled region, said.