{Analysis by Tudor Cojocariu, Romanian Center for European Policies (RCEP), for Info-Prim Neo} The cooperation between Romania and Moldova has seen both ups and downs during 21 years of the latter's independence. The same is true of the institutional cooperation, which has varied mostly depending on political factors. Aside from the fact that such an approach is somewhat morally incorrect, this inconstancy has also involved a variable efficiency. Luckily, as one Romanian official noted in the RCEP's study “From Relaunching the Relationship to Accumulating Score”, “a lot of cooperation activities occur outside formal agreements, through direct investment contracts or at the level of experts”. Undoubtedly, one advantage Romania holds over other partners of Moldova is the shared ethnic and linguistic ties. In other words, considering that the Moldovan society is not yet very “affected” by globalization, and most people, including officials, speak only Romanian and Russian, the linguistic factor is essential. I'm stressing this issue for the simple reason that, regardless of the intentions and capacities of another state to make contributions to the development of your republic, or of the partnership agreements signed, eventually all comes down to the sympathies and comity between officials, businessmen, experts, students and so on. Thus, conditions for a good cooperation between two countries with populations of mostly Romanian ethnicity do exist and it's a natural thing to exploit them. In this context, we should mention the inter-ministerial agreements between our countries. In 2010, there were signed 12 agreements, some of which worked while others worked less. The situation is different, with institutions that have already established good cooperation relations, holding trainings for experts from Moldova, providing technical assistance, making different equipment donations etc; institutions that haven't advanced beyond the stage of signing agreements and subsequent documentation; or institutions that have a traditional cooperation, which is nevertheless under the expected standards. For example, among the Romanian institutions that cooperate efficiently with similar agencies from Moldova we can mention the Ministry of Justice, the National Administration of Penitentiaries, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Romanian Office of Legal Metrology. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, on the other hand, have been seen as cooperating ineffectively and uneagerly. As for the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, it signed a cooperation agreement with its Moldovan counterpart ministry only on March 3 at the recent summit in Iasi. Romania's presence in twinning projects is also a notable thing. Romanian experts are constantly involved in sectoral technical assistance projects funded by the European Commission, the UNDP, the World Bank, etc. Such activities have been also organized for the benefit of the Moldovan Parliament. In 2011, a number of visits and experience exchanges were undertaken that involved trips by Romanian legislators and experts to Chisinau and vice versa. The discussed issues addressed, first of all, cooperation for European integration with the direct involvement of the Romanian Senate's Foreign Affairs Commission. Based on an analysis of EU assistance projects for Moldova, RCEP has concluded that Romania in 2011 became Moldova's most active twinning partner. For example, Romania has twinning experts in the Ministry of Finances, the Competition Protection Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. In most projects Romania is a partner alongside other EU member states, being a main partner (through its Competition Council) in the project with the Moldovan Competition Protection Agency. Romania also provided 3 out of 15 European experts involved in the High Level EU Advisers Project. Considering these, RCEP is recommending the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry or other relevant governmental agency to monitor the the degree of implementation of the inter-ministerial agreements and the effectiveness of the concrete assistance provided. Also, the Romanian government should put more emphasis on sharing with Moldova the European integration experiences and the best practices at the level of mechanisms. {Tudor Cojocariu, RCEP, for Info-Prim Neo}