Moldova has managed to recover from the 2009 financial crisis in quite a short period of time and the determined pro-European orientation of the Moldovan policies has contributed to the country's economic invigoration, Rainer Lindners, the executive director of Germany's Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, said in a statement ahead of his visit to Chisinau on April 18-19. Moldova is already integrated in a number of EU structures within both the European Neighborhood Policy and the East Europe Partnership. The next logical and important step, according to Dr. Rainer Lindner, would be the liberalization of the Moldovans' freedom of movement. In January 2008, the EU and Moldova signed the first visa facilitation agreement, under which the fee dropped from 60 to 35 euros, with a vast range of groups being exempted entirely. On 24 January 2011, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malström presented in Chisinau an Action Plan for a deeper visa liberalization regime for the Moldovan citizens. Dr. Lindner says that now it is Moldova's turn to take the needed steps as soon as possible in this respect, including to issue biometric passports and improve border security. Rainer Lindner says that Germany could send a signal in anticipation by waiving visa fees for even a greater number of groups of Moldovan citizens, and the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations will support this initiative. The full suspension of the requirement for visas in the freedom of persons' movement is an objective Germany has always sought to achieve. Speaking about the obstacles in Moldova's European integration efforts, Dr. Lindner named “transparency” as being the key word. Transparency is needed, for example, in implementing an electronic Register of Trade. This important issue cannot be delayed any further. Moldova's trade partners and potential investors need effective institutional frame-conditions and clear, measurable indicators in their decision-making process. The settlement of these issues will provide further dynamism to the current economic invigoration. The Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations was founded in 1952. It is a joint organization of the leading associations representing Germany business. The Committee represents and pools the interests of German business in Germany and in the above countries. In Moldova, the Committee, acting as a partner of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and of the German company Sequa gGmbH, has been implementing for several years now an assistance and counseling project that aims to improve frame-conditions for the Moldovan small and mid-sized companies and consolidate Moldo-German cooperation relations, The Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations is willing to make available to Moldova about 210 million euros from structural funds and other financing from various international programs.