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Premier Mihai Tudose said on Friday that his visit to Chisinau on the same day is a "symbolic visit", pledging Romania's firm commitment to supporting the pro-European track of the Republic of Moldova.
"It's a symbolic visit asserting the firm commitment as regards Romania's intentions towards Moldova, for the continuation of our demarches to support Moldova's track towards the European Union, its pro-European track. In the past two years this track proved to be a success. I've seen a set of popularity indicators, or - if you want - of trust in public institutions. Two years ago all of them were between 7 and 10 - 11 percent, be they for Parliament, government or justice. Things have changed now and the reforms started by the Government of the Republic of Moldova and which are being carried out under very good conditions have yielded results," Premier Mihai Tudose told the national public channel TVR 1 at the end of his visit to Chisinau.
With regard to bilateral cooperation on projects with economic impact and critical infrastructure, the Premier mentioned that the completion of the Iasi - Ungheni - Chisinau gas pipeline is now defined by clear deadlines and stages.
"Whereas Moldova is clearly headed for the West, for the European Union, connecting the systems that are vital to any country - energy, gas and electricity systems - to the rest of Europe is obviously a must. (...) Romania is Moldova's neighbor with all these structures, and this time we no longer speak about wether the projects will be done, but about clear stages and completion deadlines. Such talks have also been carried out during the terms of former governments, and despite governments changing both in Bucharest and Chisinau, the direction stayed the same, even if the advancement speed was not always optimum. No government in Chisinau and no government in Bucharest have ever challenged or abandoned these projects upon taking over. Maybe they've sometimes been less enthusiastic in pressing the gas pedal," Tudose said.
Regarding the implementation of joint projects, those with EU funding included, the Premier said that this is perfectly feasible and there already are ongoing projects. Tudose mentioned that until the joint government meeting announced for this autumn in Chisinau, regular meetings will take place in the format of inter-ministerial committees that will analyze the implementation stage of the bilateral projects.
"The joint government meetings shall then develop progress reports to assess and highlight the results of these inter-ministerial workshops between Romania and Moldova in energy, infrastructure, education, health, environmental protection, of shared use of European funds. The first analysis will be this autumn, at the joint government meeting to be held in Chisinau, said PM Mihai Tudose.
