Moldovan, Russian premiers tackle bilateral ties

Chisinau, 7 June /MOLDPRES/ Prime Minister Pavel Filip today met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in Bishkek, within a meeting of heads of government from the Commonwealth of Independent States member states, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

The premiers discussed the need to continue the political dialogue and relaunch the economic relations between Moldova and Russia, to set common agenda of actions to identify solutions to the full spectrum of issues existing in the bilateral cooperation. In the context, Filip said that the first steps on the matter had been made: visit by Foreign Minister Andrei Galbur to Moscow, consultations at level of deputy foreign ministers in Chisinau, as well as recent meeting of co-heads of the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, Dmitry Rogozin and Octavian Calmic provided the best framework to meet the set goals.

“We hope that these efforts will positively boost the bilateral cooperation in all sectors and firstly, will contribute to overcoming the barriers existing in the traditional economic relations in order to come back to growth trend of commercial exchanges”, he said.

Also, the premier referred to the upcoming visit by Dmitry Rogozin to Chisinau, scheduled for 5-6 July 2016, in order to agree a roadmap for removing restrictions on export of Moldovan goods to the Russian market. In this context, the national authorities will cooperate more closely with the Russian agencies in order to ensure observing quality standards.

For his part, Medvedev voiced willingness of the Russian side to resume the relations between the two countries, including at level of intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.

“I want to wish you success in this economic period not easy for Moldova. Russia is interested in your achievements, and I am ready to discuss the current situation in our relations and perspectives”, he said.

Filip also noted that the Free Trade Agreement within CIS must be fully implemented, and that in legal terms, there was no contradiction with Moldova’s trade regime with EU. The official underlined that the Free Trade Agreement’s implementation in Moldova created opportunities for foreign investors, including from Russia, to benefit from the lack of customs duties on export of goods to EU.

The two officials also tackled the intergovernmental cooperation in the culture and migration sectors, as well as the Transnistrian conflict settlement.

“The Transnistrian conflict settlement process is a priority for the Moldovan government, therefore we appreciate the role of international mediators, including of Russia, in the effort of relaunching the negotiations in the five plus two format”, Filip said.

In the context, Filip said that currently, there were created favorable conditions for the economic agents from the Transnistrian region to carry out import-export operations, benefitting from the preferences offered by Moldova’s legal framework.

(Editor M. Jantovan)