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Romania will always stand by the Republic of Moldova's side, regardless of the nature and weight of the economic and security issues it will be subjected to, Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciuca assured in an interview with the Open.md portal on the occasion of his visit to Chisinau on Thursday, stressing that the relationship with the Republic of Moldova, especially with its citizens, has always been a special one for Romania.
"Romania acts as a reliable partner, serious, open, transparent, disinterested in direct benefits, but interested in the solidity and European path of the Republic of Moldova," said Nicolae Ciuca, adding that "we acted in this way also when Igor Dodon [former pro-Russian president of Moldova - editor's note] was president in Chisinau, who was receiving aid under bridges, in inappropriate spaces, as marginal and invisible as possible, claiming aid from other parts".
Today, those moments have been overcome, prime minister Ciuca said, adding that president Klaus Iohannis has paid ''special attention' to the relationship and support he can give to the Republic of Moldova and to cooperation with his counterpart Maia Sandu.
"Moreover, successive pro-European governments such as the one led by Mr (Dorin) Recean have our full support for the path they have set themselves of rapprochement and integration into the European Union," he went on to say.
Bucharest is helping Chisinau on many levels, but the measures are taken directly by the Moldovan authorities, the Romanian prime minister insisted, stressing that this "is the clear and unquestionable formula for recognising the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, which Romania recognised first, ever since the Declaration of Independence was launched on 27 August 1991".
As to the strengthening of the Republic of Moldova's resilience so that it can face the challenges it is currently facing, Nicolae Ciuca said that one of the direct sponsors of developments in this sense is the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre in Bucharest.
"We provide bilateral support in training and know-how to security institutions involved in protecting the citizens and territory of the Republic of Moldova. Of course, we are most concerned with resilience in the field of information warfare, to counter propaganda and fake news. There is a lot of work to be done here too, and the state institutions in the Republic of Moldova, first and foremost in the audiovisual sector and those that supervise and can intervene in the matter of propaganda sites, must be much more active. We support them with everything we can," said the Romanian prime minister.
There are a number of issues on the agenda of the visit related to bilateral relations, the economic situation, the security situation in the Republic of Moldova, as well as the issue of European advisors who will support the achievement of the seven objectives that will turn the Republic of Moldova not only in a candidate state for EU membership, but also in a state that will already open EU accession negotiations in tandem with Ukraine.
Other topics of discussion will be the situation of the 100 million euro fund and the projects related to the first tranche, support in the energy sector, support for the lifting of the European ceilings in asymmetric free trade agreements with the European Union, which Romania supports at the Brussels level, as well as solving the European issues of roaming tariffs, said Ciuca.
"There is a lot to be done, the steps are not simple and the course of justice reform alone shows how difficult it is to reform some sensitive sectors of the Republic of Moldova," said the head of the government in Bucharest.AGERPRES
