President Igor Dodon said that during his meeting to Moscow he and his Russian counterpart agreed to take concrete common measures to increase Moldova’s exports to Russia, including to exclude customs duties on the export of vegetables, fruit, canned fruit and vegetables and wine products to Russia as of January 1, 2019, IPN reports, quoting the presidential press service.

President Dodon also said they agreed to continue to implement measures to amnesty the Moldovan workers in Russia who violated the regime of stay, Article 26 of the Russian legislation on migration, for different reasons. “This agreement will start to be implemented preliminarily as of January 1, 2019,” he stated.

Igor Dodon noted that in the discussions on the problems faced in humanitarian cooperation, they agreed that 2019 will be declared the Year of the Republic of Moldova in the Russian Federation, while 2020 the Year of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova. “I requested the President of the Russian Federation to explore the possibility of significantly increasing the number of scholarships for Moldovan citizens who study at universities in the Russian Federation starting with the next year of studies,” he said.

In response to President Dodon’s request, Russia decided to offer Moldova the first consignment of KAMAZ trucks free to Moldova. An order to this effect was made and signed by the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. Igor Dodon stated the local authorities and the inhabitants of a number of localities need a lot such vehicles.

According to a press release of the Kremlin, in the meeting the President of Russia Vladimir Putin said the Russian Federation attaches great importance to the development of the Moldovan-Russian relations. “We perceive the Republic of Moldova as one of the main partners in the CIS area. The situation has changed in the recent past, also owing to your personal efforts, in particular in the economic and commercial sectors. A significant number of enterprises were opened in such areas as winemaking, horticulture and processing of agricultural raw material that is delivered to the Russian market,” the Russian leader stated in the meeting with Igor Dodon.

President Dodon also met with his Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The sides discussed Patriarch Kirill’s pastoral visit to Moldova that is expected to be paid in the nearest future. Igor Dodon was awarded the Oder “St Pious Serghie of Radonej” of the second degree for active support given to the public church initiatives of the Moldovan Orthodox Church.