A joint meeting of the governments of Moldova and Romania is expected to take place during February, with the exact date to be announced by the prime ministers, says Victor Chirilă, the Moldovan ambassador to Romania. According to him, the strategic partnership between the two states will aid the European integration of Moldova, as for our country there is no other way than a full integration into the European Union.
“My message is that we need to make full use of the roadmap that our presidents, our heads of state signed in November. Our infrastructure interconnection, whether we are talking about the energy sector, about roads, customs, economy, or trade volumes, all these things will create out of our strategic partnership the cornerstone of our European integration. It is clear to everyone that there can be no European integration, and we cannot become members of the European Union if we are not interconnected in all areas with Romania”, Victor Chirilă said in an interview with Radio Free Europe.
The ambassador noted that Romania, regardless of the political developments in Chisinau, has always provided support and been an advocate of Moldova in Brussels and other European capitals. “Even at the ambassadors’ meeting with the Romanian President, Mr. Klaus Iohannis reiterated the unconditional support for Moldova on the path of European integration, and spoke about this in the context of the need for the EU to expand the area of prosperity, democracy and security beyond the current borders, which means it should not stop on the Prut River. He spoke about Moldova exactly in this context, and reiterated his personal support, but also that of the Romanian authorities for future reforms, for the projects to be implemented between our states, but also for solving the energy crisis faced by Moldova”, said the ambassador.
In his opinion, in order to give bilateral trade and economic cooperation an even greater boost, there is a need to improve transport infrastructure, roads, bridges and also to streamline the customs proceedings of the two states. “We are not always satisfied with this activity, the way the flow of goods and passengers takes place, that is why we are currently working on a project to modernize our border crossings in Albita and Leuseni, Giurgiulesti and Sculeni. All these checkpoints will be modernized during this year, so that in 2023 we will already have a high quality infrastructure, which will benefit our citizens and businesses in both countries”, said Victor Chirilă.
Speaking about the opportunity of bringing more Romanian capital into Moldova, the ambassador said that this is an area of attention for the embassy. “This year we intend to mobilize our entrepreneurs who are important investors in the Romanian economy, to encourage them to associate, so that their voice can be better heard here in Romania. We also aim to improve our contacts with the Romanian business community which has interests in investing in our country”, said the diplomat.
