Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Vasile Șova was named co-chairman on behalf of Moldova of the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission. President Igor Dodon expressed his confidence that this appointment will play an important role in the complete revitalization of the commission that hasn’t met since November 2016. He made such a statement in a news conference held jointly with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak, the Russian President’s special representative for development of commercial and economic relations with Moldova, in Chisinau, IPN reports.
According to Igor Dodon, the bilateral agenda includes many issues that necessitate the urgent involvement of the Government’s representatives. This was impossible so far owing to the previous governments. The first discussions within the commission will take place the next few days.
President Dodon said he requested the Russian administration to extend the agreement on the duty-free export of five categories of Moldovan goods to Russia, which expires on July 1. He also asked the Russian side to authorize the entrance of Moldovan goods that are transported by trucks through Ukraine and underlined the need to initiate talks on the price of Russian gas supplied to Moldova, stressing the necessity of excluding intermediaries from the process.
For his part, Dmitry Kozak approved of the agreements reached by the PSRM and the Bloc ACUM for resolving the political crisis. He voiced hope that now that the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission will resume work, the economic and humanitarian relations between the two states will improve. Commenting on the PDM’s withdrawal from power, the Russian official said Russia is satisfied that the criminal group that occupied Moldova and was the cause of the freezing of the Moldova-Russian relations left the country.
Asked who actually proposed federalizing the Republic of Moldova - Vlad Plahotniuc or Igor Dodon, Dmitry Kozak said Vlad Plahotniuc transmitted an envelope with the conditions and the proposal to form a PDM – PSRM coalition to him the day he was in Chisinau, before the formation of the coalition.
As to the future relations with the new government, Dmitry Kozak said the wisdom shown by the parties by forming this coalition makes him be confident that the relations will follow an upward trend. He noted he would like the bilateral trade to intensify so as to reach the level witnessed in 2012.
