Agreement on reciprocal travelling between Romania and Moldova entered into force

Citizens of Moldova will have the possibility to travel to Romania on the basis of free of charge visas, and Romanian citizens will travel to Moldova without visas. “Official Monitor” published in its Friday January 5 issue the Agreement between the governments from Chisinau and Bucharest on the reciprocal travelling of their citizens. Via the Accession treaty, Romania was obliged to introduce, starting January 1, 2007, visas with all the countries except for those which do not need visas to enter the European Union. According to the Romanian Minister of Administration and interior, Vasile Blaga, although the new regime also affects Moldovan citizens, with the consent of the European Commission, they will benefit from the largest facilities provided by Romania. The agreement maintains the regime of travelling without visas for persons holding diplomatic passports and service ones for a period of up to 90 days, and for those who are in post and the members of their families – for the entire period of their mission. Also, Moldovan citizens who are members of the air or ships’ crews will be exempted from the visas, on the basis of their air identification cards or seaman cards and the board journal. Diplomatic missions and consular offices of Romania will issue multiple entry visas, valid during 1 year to the workers of the railroad personnel, drivers who operate regular bus courses and transportation of goods, persons who travel on the basis of bilateral agreements in the domains of science, education, culture, art, religion and sports. This list also includes persons holding documents which prove the right to property or any other real right to real estate situated on the territory of Romania, or those who hold documents showing the possibility to obtain such rights via inheritance. The same regime is applied for pensioners, journalists, citizens who wish to visit their close relatives who are legally on Romania’s territory or those who wish to visit the graves of their close relatives (up to the 4th degree, including adoption and affinity). Moldovan businessmen who hold investments in Romania will obtain multiple entry visas with a term of up to 5 years. Urgent regime visas (24 hours) are accorded for visiting family members ore close relatives who suffer from serious illness; for visiting persons who need urgent medical assistance or who have serious diseases; for participating in burial of a family member or a close relative; for visiting relatives’ graves, for travelling with the aim of repatriation of people who died. The urgency regime is applied to members of the serving personnel of the first aid teams (in the case of catastrophes or exceptional situations). This regime is also applied for travelling with the aim of participating in programmes dedicated to children and youth, as well as in sport competitions under the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, national and international sport federations or association, national paralympic committees; for members of the official delegations or their accredited assistants, who are to participate in negotiations, consulting, discussions or seminars at the level of state central and local administration bodies, international organizations, accredited educational institutions or some important companies; for persons summoned for participating in judiciary sessions on the territory of Romania, holding the respective document. According to the Agreement, Romanian citizens do not have to hold visas for travelling to Moldova for up to 90 days during 6 months since the first entry. The agreement between two states has been signed in Bucharest, on October 20.