Moldovan foreign affairs minister has meeting with OSCE representatives

Chisinau, 21 April /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu today received President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Margareta Cederfelt and OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey, on a working visit to Moldova, the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry’s (MAEIE) press service has reported.   

At the meeting, the officials discussed the humanitarian crisis triggered by the regional insecurity situation in the wake of the war in Ukraine, including Moldova’s firm commitment to ensure the protection of refugees.  

„The vulnerability of women and children who flee the war might be exploited and the duty of the government and competent international organizations is to prevent this and boost the efforts of combating and preventing the trafficking of human beings. I detailed the actions undertaken by the government, in order to provide worthy conditions to the Ukrainian refugees, who are hosted in a large number, including in homes of our citizens,’’ Deputy PM Nicu Popescu said.  

The OSCE representatives expressed appreciation for the cohesion, solidarity and capacity of the citizens and authorities to manage the humanitarian crisis. In the context, the sides agreed on strengthening the international cooperation on the dimension of fighting the trafficking of human beings and Minister Nicu Popescu thanked for OSCE’s support in mobilizing the humanitarian assistance.  

At the same time, the Moldovan diplomacy head stressed that Moldova continued implementing the national strategy of prevention and combating of the trafficking of human beings on the period 2018-2023, which is important also in the context of the submission of the application on accession to the European Union, concerning the connection to the EU standards in the field.