German interior minister comes to Chisinau

Germany's Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich will pay a visit to Moldova during the next half a year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leanca announced in a news conference held after his visit to Germany, Info-Prim Neo reports. Iurie Leanca said that before the visit of the German minister, the Moldovan authorities will do what’s necessary for the cooperation with the bodies of the Ministry of the Interior of Germany to be developed so as to improve the Moldovans’ capacities to reform the Ministry of the Interior, to more efficiently combat organized crime and to make faster progress on the path to European integration and in obtaining a liberalized visa regime. “The role played by the ministries of the interior of the EU member states in assessing the progress we make in the area of visas is very great,” said the minister. Hans-Peter Friedrich was invited to pay a visit to Moldova by Prime Minister Vlad Filat Iurie Leanca had been in Germany during October 22-23 and participated in the EU-Moldova Forum held in Berlin. The forum centered on the objectives concerning the political association and economic integration in the EU, the foreign and security policy of the EU in Eastern Europe, the domestic reforms adjusted to the European standards and other issues. The minister had a series of bilateral meetings with high-ranking officials of the federal Chancellor’s Office and the Foreign Ministry and with members of the Bundestag. The meetings focused on issues included in the bilateral and European agenda.