The first contacts of the Republic of Moldova with the North Atlantic Alliance were established after the country’s independence. On 20 December 1991, in Brussels, the meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) was held, created following the decision made at the Summit of the NATO Member States of Rome on 7-8 November 1991. The purpose of creating the NACC was to establish a permanent body for consultations between the former opponents about the primary European security issues. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova attended the first meeting of the NACC, thus our country became a Member State of this Council.

On 6 January 1994, during the Summit of the North Atlantic Alliance, where was considered the American initiative "Partnership for Peace", Moldova has expressed the interest to join this program.

On 16 March 1994 in Brussels, at NATO Headquarters, was held the first meeting of the President of the Republic of Moldova with the NATO Secretary General, followed by the signing of the "Partnership for Peace" Framework Document.

On 29 May 1997 at Sintra (Portugal) took place the meeting of the NACC Foreign Ministers. Starting from the need to establish new relations with the cooperation partners, NATO proposed the transformation of the NACC into a more appropriate structure - the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC).

In order to coordinate more effectively the activities regarding NATO, on 16 December 1997 was established the Mission of the Republic of Moldova to NATO. The position of the Head of Mission is exercised by the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the Kingdom of Belgium.

Also since 1997, the Republic of Moldova has expanded its cooperation with NATO in the scientific area.

The political dialogue has continued through the working visit of the President of the Republic of Moldova in Brussels (25-27 January 1998), in which the head of state had meetings with the NATO Secretary General and the WEU Secretary General.

The working visit to Chisinau of the NATO Secretary General during 28-29 January 1998 constituted a new stage in the development of the Moldova – NATO relationship. The visit had several purposes, including the assessment of the cooperation prospects of the Republic of Moldova in the Partnership for Peace.

Also important was the visit of the President Vladimir Voronin to the NATO Headquarters on 28 June 2001, where the Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) on cooperation in the logistical area was signed.

Following this memorandum, it was possible to create in 2002 a fund with special affectation, financed by NATO countries and intended for the destruction of a group of ammunition and anti-personnel mines with expired term equipping the National Army, and a significant quantity of mélange rocket fuel. The project was implemented by the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA). Through this project a huge ecological danger was removed and this was achieved before the deadline of the basic provisions of the Ottawa Convention on banning anti-personnel mines, the Republic of Moldova being among the first countries in the region which excluded this type of weapons from its arsenals. 

Since 2002, the Republic of Moldova is party to the South East Europe Security Cooperation Steering Group (SEEGROUP), part of the South East Europe Initiative (SEEI), which currently comprises 20 member states and 14 partner states.

A delegation led by the head of state attended on 28-29 June 2004 to the EAPC / NATO Summit in Istanbul. The Forum of the Alliance adopted a new strategy of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership based on refocusing and renewing, and gave priority of assistance to the countries implementing the Action Plans: Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), Partnership Action Plan on Defense Institution Building (PAP-DIB), Partnership Action Plan against Terrorism (PAP - T), etc. The strategy contains positive references for Moldova. NATO's commitment towards cooperation with Moldova was reiterated in the Final Statement of the Summit of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) (p. 32). 

On 7 June 2005, the President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, visited the Headquarters of the Alliance attending the meetings of the NAC. Within this, it was declared our intention to adopt an Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).

As a result, the Individual Partnership Action Plan Moldova - NATO, which marks a qualitatively new stage of cooperation between the two parties, was adopted by the North Atlantic Council on 19 May and, respectively, by the Government of Moldova on 24 May 2006. This document sets a number of important goals, such as deepening of Moldova’s cooperation with the European and Euro-Atlantic structures and institutions, promoting democratic reforms in various fields, reform and modernization of the defense and security areas, strengthening democratic control over armed forces, etc.

On 3 April 2008, a delegation led by the Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin took part at the meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council as Head of State and Government in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Bucharest.

On 30 October 2008, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO Secretary General, made a working visit to Chișinău. The Senior Official of the Alliance has had meetings with the President of Moldova, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and the Minister of Defense. The program also included a lecture at the State University of Moldova and a visit to the NATO Information and Documentation Center.

The review process of IPAP was launched in November 2009. Moreover, the National Commission for IPAP Implementation, presided by the Deputy Prime-minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration was also established. The members of Commission have acknowledged the need to update the provisions of the Action Plan and to adjust them to the existing realities. The final consolidated version of IPAP was approved by the Government of Moldova and also by NATO in August 2010.

In the period 11-13 of May 2011, the NATO evaluation mission was in a visit to Moldova. The NATO officials had several meetings with the national experts from various ministries involved in the implementation of the IPAP, with the goal to assess the achievements and the encountered difficulties.

On June 16-17, 2011, an EAPC meeting in the APAG format took place for the first time in Chisinau. More than 59 participants from the NATO member countries as well as partner countries participated at this event, largely assessed as being a successful one.

On July 13, 2011 the North Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting in the 28 members + Republic of Moldova format took place in Bruxelles. A range of issues related to the implementation of the IPAP as well as the cooperation RM-NATO were discussed. The Moldovan delegation was lead by the Minister of Defence and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. At the meeting, NATO approved the Final evaluation Report 2010 on the IPAP implementation.