Putin to Filat: Attention must focus on investments

The amount of Russian investments in Moldova is insignificant, which means it is a domain with prospects. The statement was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the meeting with Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat, which took place in Soci. The Russian leader said that the focus should be put on investment collaboration, Info-Prim Neo learned from a press release of the Government. “Big and average Russian companies are interested in investing in Moldova. Some of them are already present on the Moldovan market, and I don’t mean only Gazprom”, said the Russian President. Vladimir Putin specified that the Russian investors are interested in the privatization process going on in Moldova. “This will contribute to the improvement of Moldovan economy and of commercial relations between Moldova and the Russian Federation”, he stressed. Vladimir Putin also highlighted the growth of trade between the two countries. “The volume of trade is about $2 billion. Yesterday (September 11) I had a meeting with my Serbian colleagues, a much larger country than Moldova, but with whom we have the same volume of trade. This proves that Moldova and Russia have a more intensive and serious commercial exchange”, said Vladimir Putin. In turn, Vlad Filat said that a positive trend was witnessed not only in the economic and political spheres, but in the humanitarian field as well. “It’s very important to tackle and speak openly about the issues on our common agenda. In cases where no solution has been found yet, we wish to identify one as soon as possible to satisfy both our countries’ interests”, declared Vlad Filat. The Moldovan Prime Minister added that attracting investments is an important goal of the Government in Chisinau. “We’re interested in attracting Russian investors, not only in the regard of privatization, but in projects we want to implement for the development of public-private partnerships in important areas like energy, transport, infrastructure”, said Vlad Filat. The officials also spoke about cooperation in the energy area. The two sides agreed that experts in the field should meet in the near future to discuss the final form of the energy cooperation agreement and gas supply and transit contracts.