Now that Russia joined the Green Card System, the drivers can travel to this country with insurance purchased from a national insurance company, Vladimir Stirbu, department head at the National Commission on the Financial Market (CNPF), has told Info-Prim Neo Until recently, the Moldovan drivers had to buy motor civil liability insurance from Russian insurance companies when they traveled to Russia. Now they can purchase the insurance from a national company. According to Vladimir Stirbu, the advantage is considerable especially for legal entities. “The motorists can sign an insurance contract with a national company that they know well and that is a long-term partner. The lower communication costs deriving from territorial proximity is another advantage,” Stirbu said. Russia became a member of the Green Card system on January 1, 2009. After Russia joined this system, the CNPF made a decision, changing the format of the internal and external Moldovan civil liability insurance policies, in accordance with the decision on the new Green Card format made by the General Assembly of the Council of Bureaus on May 30, 2008 in Lisbon. The international Green Card System includes 45 states. The Green Card offers no insurance cover but is proof that the minimum legal requirements for third party liability insurance in any country for which the Green Card is valid are covered by the insured's own motor policy.