Moldova and Romania will continue to increase and diversify bilateral trade, the volume of which reached $3.5 billion by the end of 2022 and exceeded the indicators of 2021.
This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu after a meeting in Chisinau with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu. He reminded that Romania is the biggest trade partner of Moldova and the N1 market for Moldovan exporters, which covers almost 1/3 of Moldova's exports. Nicu Popescu said he discussed with his Romanian counterpart how to maintain this trend and diversify bilateral trade. According to him, the two sides are also working together to open the pontoon bridge and the Leova - Bumbata border crossing as soon as possible. The heads of the Moldovan and Romanian diplomats also discussed the construction of a road bridge near Ungheni, the Balti-Suceava power line and the Vulcanesti-Chisinau line. Nicu Popescu said that the passing year was extremely difficult for our region, Ukraine, as well as for Moldova, but together with Romania, the country continues to cope with the consequences of this war. Along with Romania and the European Union countries, Moldova achieved a historic success in 2022, by getting the status of candidate to EU membership. Moldova and Romania managed to organize for the first time a joint session of the legislative bodies, to hold a joint session of the governments of the two countries in Chisinau. The unprecedented interaction between the diplomacies of the two countries, along with the joint efforts of the two heads of state Maia Sandu and Klaus Iohannis, the governments and the legislatures allowed strengthening the strategic partnership for European integration, to reinforce the linguistic, historical and cultural community. Nicu Popescu stressed that thanks to these joint efforts, Moldova's relations with Romania are the closest and strongest in the last 3 decades. Numerous projects are being implemented in Moldova with Romania's support, which directly affects the improvement of citizens' life quality, starting with student scholarships, which opened new opportunities and trained hundreds of thousands of specialists, some of whom are fully employed in Moldova's public and private sectors, grants and direct budgetary support. More than 1,100 kindergartens have been repaired and more than 200 school minibuses for Romanian-, Ukrainian-, Gagauz-, Russian- and Bulgarian-language schools have been provided. Moldovan farmers have received diesel fuel from Romania, the neighboring country has provided Moldova with vaccines during the pandemic, humanitarian aid since the first days of the war to overcome the refugee crisis, supported the modernization of villages, abolition of roaming charges, supported culture, construction of a gas pipeline, bridges and other infrastructure. Other important and necessary assistance consisted of electricity, natural gas, including gas storage in Romania, supplies of fuel oil, fuel and firewood. The head of the Foreign Ministry said he discussed with his Romanian counterpart how the war in Ukraine has caused serious changes in our country and affected Moldova's security. "We are united in condemning this war, in our common desire and aspiration to preserve peace in Moldova, to protect our citizens from the adverse consequences of this war, united in our common work for our country's accession to the European Union," Nicu Popescu said. He also recalled that Moldova participated in the NATO ministerial meeting in Bucharest and this international event is a diplomatic success of Romania, Romanian diplomacy. "With all the hybrid challenges we face, we need all the solidarity of our friends in the West to protect our democracy and our freedom. We appreciate the role of Romania, which along with Germany and France co-founded the Moldova Support Platform, in which our development partners from all over the free and democratic world offer us targeted support. At conferences in Berlin, Bucharest and Paris we received important commitments, not only in the short term but also in the long term, to support stability, social cohesion, strengthen democracy and promote reforms and our European course. We will hold the next conference within the Moldova Support Platform in Chisinau," the MFAEI head said. He thanked the Romanian authorities for supporting the European path and the transformation of our country, for all the support on the path of reforms and for the consolidation of sustainability on Moldova's irreversible path to join the European Union, together with Romania. //20.12.2022 - InfoMarket.
