Building of the rule of law and efficient fight against corruption are essential elements in the European integration project, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Erkka Tuomioja said in a meeting with President Nicolae Timofti in Chisinau on April 4. The head of state voiced hope that Moldova will soon sign the Association Agreement with the EU, underlining that the country aims to obtain the status of EU accession candidate at the Riga EaP Summit of 2015, IPN reports.

According to a communiqué from the presidential press service, Nicolae Timofti welcomed the visit by the Finish official to Chisinau, thanking Finland for the support provided to Moldova. “The financial assistance of €5.9 million, offered by the Helsinki Government, contributed to strengthening the democratic institutions in our country,” he stated.

For his part, Erkka Tuomioja approved of the progress made by the Moldovan authorities in doing reforms, saying all the country’s people will benefit from the Association Agreement after its signing.

Nicolae Timofti and Erkka Tuomioja also spoke about the situation in the Transnistrian region. The head of state said the current 5+2 format of the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks turned out to be inefficient and should be thus modified.