Visegrad Group supports Moldova’s European aspiration

The four members of the Visegrad (V4) Group, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, support Moldova’s European aspiration, the Foreign Ministers of the Group said in a joint statement signed at the V4 Summit on Thursday, which was attended by the Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan. According to the statement, the Group intends to initiate talks with the EU concerning a new framework for future cooperation with Moldova that would replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The statement ends with an appeal made to the international community, in particular to the participants in the five-plus-two talks, to consider transforming the current peacekeeping mechanism in the Transnistrian region into a multinational civil peacekeeping mission. In addition, the delegations of the V4 grouping pleaded for the immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops from the territory of Moldova and for finding a peaceful solution to the conflict that would respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, a press release from the Moldovan MFA reads.