Defence & Security Days France – Romania – Republic of Moldova Forum 2024

The second edition of the Defence & Security Days France – Romania – Republic of Moldova Business Forum was recently held in Bucharest. The event brought together security and defence experts from the three countries to discuss strategic issues and priorities for strengthening inter-state collaboration in strategic security and defence areas, trade, industry, education, research and development etc. At the event, countries are represented by government officials, military officers, commanding officers, specialists and experts in the relevant fields.

In addition to debates on cybersecurity, defence and crisis management, the event included simultaneous technical workshops, as well as bilateral meetings and private discussions on the above-mentioned topics.

The topics discussed also included the current situation of the Romanian-French and Moldovan-French strategic partnerships; the defence priorities of Romania and Moldova, the decision-making process, national ecosystems and opportunities for cooperation with French companies. The experts discussed about Romania and Moldova’s main challenges in terms of internal security and crisis management; nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical threats.

In this context, the Director of the I.P. Information Technology and Cyber Security Service (STISC) of the Republic of Moldova, Alexandru Coretchi, spoke about STISC’s experience in cross-border cooperation on cyber security.

Thematic workshops

According to the programme, the Forum’s work included three consecutive technical workshops on the themes: ‘Nuclear, Radiological, Biological and Chemical (NRBC) Threats’; ‘Electronic Warfare’ and ‘Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS)’.

B2B meetings for security, defence and cybersecurity

The forum also included B2B meetings on security, defence and cybersecurity, as well as informal meetings between government officials, specialists and experts in the relevant fields.

The Director of Moldova’s STISC, Alexandru Coretchi, held talks with Dr. Sorin Dobircianu, PhD. Sr. Excellence Lead Expert NATO, Director of the European Centre for Multidisciplinary Research, who has extensive experience in intelligence, crisis management, establishing partnership agreements in infrastructure and telecommunications, as well as consulting experience on national defence and intelligence issues, telecommunications etc.

The officials’ dialogue focused on the main challenges facing Romania and the Republic of Moldova in terms of cybersecurity and crisis management.

The Forum was organised by Business France, in collaboration with the Defence Mission, the Internal Security Service and the Economic Service of the French Embassy in Romania and DCIS (Directorate of International Cooperation for Security – Ministry of Interior), with the aim of strengthening economic and industrial relations in the fields of security and defence between French companies and all public and private operators in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.