OREANDA-NEWS. June 17, 2011. Chisinau hosts a meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in the format of the Atlantic Policy Advisory Group (EAPC-APAG) on 16-17 June. Attending the event are 60 delegations from NATO member countries and former socialist countries.

A representative of the Moldovan Foreign and European Integration Ministry, Andrei Galbur, has told journalists that "one of the signals that this meeting is going to give resides in the fact that NATO is no longer a purely military alliance, but an alliance of democratic values, to which Moldova aspires as well". "Via various platforms of dialogue and cooperation, NATO offers the opportunity to constructively approach global security issues," Galbur said.

The participants in the meeting will approach democratic reforms in the eastern neighborhood of NATO, security in the Black Sea zone, as well as new partnership policies between NATO and its neighboring countries.

In his opening speech, Moldovan Foreign and European Integration Minister Iurie Leanca reiterated Moldova's commitment to the democratic values and European integration path, noting that the Transnistrian conflict is one of the main obstacles to the country's development and a source of danger for the regional security.

The European Atlantic Partnership Council is a NATO institution created to improve relations between NATO and non-NATO countries. It holds meetings every year, which are hosted by both NATO member states and partner countries.