Governments of Moldova, Romania sign 13 bilateral documents at joint meeting

Chisinau, 11 February /MOLDPRES/ - The governments of Moldova and Romania today held a joint meeting in Chisinau. At the event, the two states reconfirmed the mutual intentions of development of the strategic partnership and to increase the bilateral cooperation through more concrete projects for the benefit of the citizens on both banks of the Prut river, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.    

In the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita welcomed PM of Romania Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca and the members of the Bucharest delegation; she thanked Romania for the constant support provided to Moldova’s citizens during years.  

„I want us to transform the foundation of our relation – the community of language, culture and history – into a community of big concrete projects and today, at the end of the meeting, more bilateral documents will be signed, which cover a wide range of important sectors. We promised that we would construct new bridges – physical and virtual – between the two banks of Prut; so, we keep our promise. This dynamic is outstanding and shows the two governments’ concern to adjust the bilateral agenda to the citizens’ interests,’’ Natalia Gavrilita said.   

In particular, the Moldovan PM appreciated Romania’s decision to provide a grant worth 100 million euros to Moldova. ‘’We want to enhance the quality of life, especially in the rural environment and these funds will be able to be used for the local infrastructure, either we speak about roads, schools or networks of water supply,’’ Natalia Gavrilita said. She specified that, for the first time ever, Moldova today would sign an agreement on cutting the roaming tariffs with an EU member state and the benefits of this decision will be felt by the citizens.    

For his part, Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca assured the Moldovan government of full involvement for a consolidated cooperation in the key sectors: 

„We are happy to see now in Chisinau the greatest openness ever registered, in the relation with Romania. These friendly premises allow us edifying an intense and ambitious bilateral agenda. In 2020, in a crisis year, Romania provided official assistance worth a record size of 46.8 million euros for Moldova’s development. As for the European agenda of Moldova, I assure you that Romania will further be your resolute and vocal supporter. You can count on the every openness and cooperation on behalf of Romania’s institutions, both from Bucharest and from Brussels. ’’   

The governments’ members at the meeting tackled more subjects, such as: the European agenda of Moldova, implementation of the Association Agreement with the European Union, approval of a new Association Agenda of Moldova with EU for the next seven years, the new programme on macro-financial assistance on behalf of EU for the next two years, worth 150 million euros in all, as well as the ways of Moldova’s connection to the Three Seas Initiative.

Thirteen bilateral documents were signed at the joint meeting of the governments, in line with the roadmap on the priority fields of cooperation between Moldova and Romania:

- The joint declaration of the government of Moldova and the government of Romania on strengthening the cooperation in the economic and investments sectors.

- The agreement between the government of Moldova and the government of Romania on the implementation of the programme on technical and financial assistance based on a non-refundable assistance worth 100 million euros, provided by Romania to Moldova. The money, which will be accessed in the next years, will be able to be used for the implementation of projects in the key sectors of Moldova, such as the energy sector, transport and infrastructure, development of small- and medium-sized enterprises, health, education, etc. These investments will generate economic development of Moldova, new jobs and business opportunities. The concrete projects due to receive financing will be subsequently established by the sides.    

- The agreement between the government of Moldova and the government of Romania on the cutting of the tariffs of supply of international roaming services and the services of international calls between the two states. The document establishes more accessible prices for the roaming services, as well as for ordinary international calls. Thus, the tariffs will decrease at least ten-fold for the calls made in roaming from Romania to Moldova; at the same time, no tariff will be imposed for the calls received in roaming in Romania from Moldova and the tariffs will drop at least five-fold for the Internet services in roaming in Romania.  

- The agreement between the government of Moldova and the government of Romania on technical, financial, legal and organizational aspects concerning the consolidation of the border road bridge between the two states across the Prut river between the settlements Galati (Romania) – Giurgiulesti (Moldova). The works on consolidation of the bridge will contribute to the easing of the traffic between the two states, to ensuring mobility, as well as to facilitating the trade on the international and international markets. Also, Moldova’s role will be enhanced as connection between the European Union states and the Commonwealth of Independent States.  

- The agreement between the government of Moldova and the government of Romania on technical, financial, legal and organizational aspects regarding the construction, exploitation, maintenance and repair of the border road bridge between the two states across the Prut river between the settlements Ungheni (Moldova) – Ungheni (Romania). The construction of the bridge will ensure the citizens’ mobility, will provide safety and security of the road traffic and will boost the economic growth of the nearby regions, through removing the cross-border constraints.    

- The Memorandum of Understanding between the Infrastructure and Regional Development Ministry of Moldova and the Energy Ministry of Romania on cooperation in the energy security sector. The document provides for establishing joint actions, in order to prevent and manage the crisis situations in the supply with energy and/or natural gas of the concerned markets from Romania and Moldova. The sides will elaborate, in a six-month period, a joint plan of actions and measures of solidarity in case of energy crisis.  

- The Memorandum of Understanding in the field of digital transformation between the government of Moldova and the government of Romania.

- The Protocol between the Defence Ministry of Moldova and the National Defence Ministry of Romania on cooperation in the field of military education. The document, concluded for a ten-year period, has the goal to develop the cooperation for the training of the military and civil staff in the defence sector, through participation in syllabi in the military education institutions from the two states.   

- The protocol on cooperation between the Education and Research Ministry of Moldova and the Education Ministry of Romania for 2022-2026. Under this protocol, Romania will provide support in the modernization of Moldova’s education system. At the same time, in the next four years, Romania will be able to annually detach teachers of various specialties, to work in education institutions from Moldova. Also, both states will provide education places without payment of schooling fees and with/without scholarship in the pre-university and higher education.

- Memorandum of Understanding between the Education and Research Ministry of Moldova and the Research, Innovation and Digitalization Ministry of Romania in the field of research, development and innovation. The document will enhance the cooperation in diverse sectors as to the digital transformation, such as: development of electronic public services; automation of the administrative processes; inter-operability of the information systems from Moldova and Romania; mutual recognition of the electronic signatures; implementation of the digital platforms and infrastructures; cyber security; facilitation of investments and innovative entrepreneurship in the information technology sector.   

- Joint declaration between Interior Minister of Moldova Ana Revenco and Interior Minister of Romania Lucian-Nicolae Bode on cooperation in the interior affairs field. This will contribute to the promotion of bilateral initiatives as to the states’ security and deepening the cooperation in the priority sectors of common interest, as well as to achieving the goal of Moldova’s European integration.    

- The Cooperation Plan in the field of professional education of the Interior Ministries of Moldova and Romania for 2022. This will contribute to the development of the bilateral cooperation as regards the activities of training the Interior Ministry’s staff from Moldova.

-  The action plan in the justice sector between the Justice Ministry of Moldova and the Justice Ministry of Romania for 2022-2024. The plan establishes joint actions, in order to prevent and combat corruption and organized crime, as well as in order to consolidate the rule of law state and the reform in the justice sector, taking into account Romania’s experience in the justice reformation process on the period before and after the accession to the European Union.  

Photo: Government