CHISINAU. Feb 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Officials from NATO and countries participating in the Partnership for Peace program have inspected the Bulboaca training center, the main testing ground of the Moldovan army, National Army combat training department chief Colonel Vyacheslav Maringos told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
"The interest of NATO officials and countries of the Partnership for Peace program in the training center of the Moldovan National Army stems from the fact that Bulboaca will host the multinational Cooperative Best Effort exercises in 2006," he said.
The visit to the training center was organized within the framework of the first planning conference in Chisinau for similar exercises to be held this summer at the Yavorivo test range in the Lviv region of Ukraine.
Participants in the conference worked out the scenario of the maneuvers, determined the number of personnel in the headquarters and military contingents, and specified several organizational matters, Maringos said. According to him, 21 out of 27 states who sent their representatives to Chisinau have confirmed their participation in Cooperative Best Effort 2005.
Cooperative Best Effort is held annually since 1996 in the framework of NATO's Partnership for Peace program. The Moldovan National Army has been involved in all the previous exercises. This year the Moldovan Defense Ministry will send to Yavorivo a team of 20 servicemen, mostly cadets of the Armed Forces Institute.