Romania’s President to pay flying visit to Moldova on Tuesday

President of Romania Traian Basescu will pay a flying visit to Moldova on Tuesday, January 16. According to a press release from the Moldovan President Office, the visit of the Romanian head of state aims at “settling the situation occurred after the introduction of the visa regime with Romania and the difficulties the Moldovan citizens have to deal with at the Consulate of Romania in Moldova”. The visit of the Romanian head of state to Chisinau will start at 10.00, when the presidential airplane is expected to land on the Chisinau International Airport, and will end at 14.00. During this time, Traian Basescu will meet with his Moldovan counterpart in the library of the Presidency. Afterwards, the two presidents will make press statements and Basescu will pay a visit to the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau. The first visit of Traian Basescu in Chisinau took place two years ago - his first visit abroad as Romanian President. Meanwhile, the Embassy of Romania in Chisinau confronted with a huge number of requests from the Moldovan citizens related to the regaining of the Romanian citizenship. Over 500 000 scheduling requests for submitting the applications were registered until November 2006. Starting January 1, 2007, after Romania joined EU and the visa regime was introduced, the Consulate is confronting with a considerable number of visa applications. In order to face the high inflow of visa applications, the diplomatic mission extended its work schedule, including shifts in weekends. Also, it increased the staff. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it has asked Moldova to open two more consulates in Balti and Cahul, but the Moldovan authorities didn’t react to the request so far. Also, the public authorities of Chisinau did not fulfil the request of Romania to offer a more spacious building to the Romanian Consulate in Chisinau, which works in a small office at present.