Acting President Marian Lupu said the extension for another ten years of the Friendship and Cooperation Treaty between Moldova and Russia, by the signature of the foreign ministers of the two states, is a technical mistake. He explained that such a move is within the remit of the President, not of the foreign ministries, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Marian Lupu, during the visit paid to Chisinau by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, there were signed two documents – a program on interministerial consultations for the next year and a document concerning cooperation in archiving. “An agreement to extend the Friendship Treaty with Russia shouldn’t have been signed as this accord, signed on November 19, 2001, says that if the parties have no objections to the text of the Treaty, it is extended automatically for another ten years,” Marian Lupu told the press. He also said that the Treaty was extended automatically on November 19, 2011 and he welcomed its extension as it is an important document that represents the political platform for cooperation in different areas. “We agreed with Sergey Lavrov that, based on this Treaty, the Governments will negotiate and sign an agreement on the protection of the rights of the national minorities, i.e. the Russian ethnics in Moldova and the Moldovan ethics in Russia,” stated Marian Lupu. The extension of the Friendship and Cooperation Treaty between Moldova and Russia was announced in a news conference on November 22, after a meeting of Foreign Minister Iurie Leanca and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.