Moldovan head of state meets Russian president

Chisinau, 8 September /MOLDPRES/ - President Igor Dodon has had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a one-day working visit to Moscow. At the meeting, the officials agreed that the price for natural gas would not be increased, the presidential press service has reported.  

The sides discussed diverse aspects of the strategic dialogue between Moldova and Russia and paid increased attention to the problem of supply of gas to Moldova.

The officials reached an agreement of principle and coordinated the next steps of cooperation in the gas supply sector. This allows us saying, at this stage already, that the tariffs for the end consumers will not increase. Thus, starting from 1 October, the price for the Russian gas delivered to Moldova will decrease.

Igor Dodon thanked the Russian leadership for the extension of the regime of import without customs duties for five categories of Moldovan agro-industrial sector goods to the Russian market. The Moldovan president stressed that, due to this fact, the volume of goods exported from Moldova had significantly increased in the last months.

The Moldovan head of state highlighted the importance of organizing the first, in the last three years, meeting of the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission for commercial and economic cooperation and the second Moldovan-Russian economic forum. Both events will be held in Chisinau in September.

Also, Igor Dodon and Vladimir Putin considered more issues concerning the domestic and foreign policy of Moldova. The Moldovan president emphasized the historical character of the events which had taken place in Moldova in early last June and offered thanks to the Russian side for the support provided in the process of peaceful transfer of power.

In the context, Igor Dodon said that the consensus of the external political forces on Moldova had offered greater chances for the country’s development, as well as for the full carrying out of the strategy of a balanced foreign policy, based on the maintaining and strengthening of the constitutional status of permanent neutrality.  

At the same time, the president of Moldovan informed the Russian president about the boosting of contacts with the high-ranking officials on behalf of the most important foreign partners of Moldova (Russia, EU and USA), about the results of a recent meetings in Brussels with the EU and NATO leadership, as well as about the speech he would give at the 74th United Nations General Assembly.

Referring to the Transnistrian settlement, Igor Dodon stressed the need that all participants in the five-plus-two talks join efforts, in order to identify a politically efficient model, with the observance of Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, within the internationally recognized borders.