The Government of the United States has offered about US$1.4 million in additional funding to Moldova to combat corruption, trafficking in persons and organized crime. The amendment to the “Letter of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement” between the U.S. and Moldova was signed by the U.S. Ambassador Asif Chaudhry and Moldova's Acting President Mihai Ghimpu on September 22, Info-Prim Neo reports. The additional funding will support several projects to assist Moldova's rule of law and law enforcement development, including a series of continuous legal education workshops for prosecutors and judges, an internship program for new graduates of the National Institute of Justice to study in the U.S., development of the Moldovan Bar Association, assistance in legislative reforms aimed at bringing the Moldovan criminal justice system into compliance with international standards. “The amendment is important because we have the possibility of cooperating with the Government of Moldova in improving the criminal justice system. The U.S. Government will be making effort to assist Moldova in combating organized crime. We will continue to support you in your efforts to fight organized crime and trafficking in human beings,” Ambassador Asif Chaudhry said. Acting President Mihai Ghimpu said that poverty is one of the causes of such phenomena. “Moldova needs such assistance so as to combat these scourges,” he said, assuring that the money will be spent in a transparent way. “I assure you that the amendment will be implemented exactly. A lot of bad things happened, but from now on everything will be done in accordance with the law. If we try to hide this money and spend them for other purposes, there will be no other such amendments in the future,” Mihai Ghimpu said. The original Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement between the United States and Moldova was signed on August 28, 2001. Since that time, the U.S. has provided more than US$8 million for criminal justice system assistance through this program alone.