Iurie Leanca: Significant progress was made at third round of talks on EU agreement

“Significant progress was made at the third round of talks on the association agreement with the EU and we have a new element – the first progress report was adopted,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leanca told a news conference on June 8, Info-Prim Neo reports. The report will be presented at the meeting of the Moldova-EU Cooperation Council that will be held in Luxemburg on June 15. The talks on the liberalization of the visa regime will be opened then. The minister said they discussed a number of issues that are of major importance for Moldova, including the Transnistrian conflict and the support offered by the EU. The discussions on the legal system, freedom and security are close to an end. Progress was made in preparing a plan to adjust the legislation that will include the objectives and commitments that will be laid down in the association agreement. Iurie Leanca said the European Commission in the second half of this year will receive the agreement of the 27 countries and the talks on the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement will be then opened. Gunner Wiegand, Director for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Central Asia at the Directorate General for External Relations, said the EU wants to reach a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement, but the negotiation capacity depends on the reforms that Moldova will implement. He also said that the association agreement will have a significant economic and political impact on Moldova as well as in such filed as the legal system and internal affairs. The next round of talks will take place in Brussels in October 2010.