EU-Moldova Association Committee held in Chisinau

Chisinau, 20 October /MOLDPRES/- A meeting of the EU-Moldova Association Committee took place on 19 October 2017. It was co-chaired by Deputy Foreign and European Integration Minister Daniela Morari and Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, Regional Cooperation and OSCE at the European External Action Service Luc Pierre Devigne. A broad presence of national institutions, European institutions, representatives of EU member states and EU senior advisers, MAEIE’s media relations service has reported.

The talks with European partners have focused on implementing the provisions of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement in the field. In this respect, the EU welcomed Moldova’s participation in EU crisis management missions. The parties also discussed the issue of the freedom of media. Particularly, the EU expressed its opinion on the need to make progress in this area, including through the swift adoption of the new Audiovisual Code. The European officials have also been interested in the course of the central public administration reform, implementation of the strategy on national minorities, as well as electoral reform.

Also, they analyzed developments in the consolidation of law institutions, the continuation of justice reform and implementation of anti-money laundering provisions and counteracting corruption. In this context, the EU representatives welcomed the approval of the new national integrity and anticorruption strategy.

In terms of the economic cooperation, the sides agreed that compliance with the conditions of the programme agreed with IMF is extremely important for the Moldovan-EU dialogue, including in the context of planned macro-financial assistance from the EU. In particular, they pointed out the need to continue the reforms related to public finance management, as well as to strengthen the budgetary planning process and control its execution.

The sectoral cooperation block covered a wide range of topics related to energy, transport, agriculture, regional development, environment and climate change, education, culture, tourism, labor and social protection, public health. The sides referred to the results achieved during the expert meetings that took place during the year under the Association Agreement.

The Association Committee meeting is held annually and aims at assessing the level of implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement both of its progress and challenges.