The Union of Towns of Moldova has been set up. The founding members – the mayors of nine towns – said the Union’s major goal is to protect the interests of the settlements and resolve the problems in concert, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The Union of Towns of Moldova was founded with the aim of ensuring joint and consolidated activity so as to stimulate the accelerated development of the Moldovan towns at economic and social levels. We aim to safeguard the common interests of the territorial-administrative units with a view to solving the problems of the townspeople,” said the chair of the union constitution assembly, Mayor of Cahul Petru Burlacu. The union will promote the interests of the Moldovan towns abroad and will ensure a coordinated activity so as to establish partnership relations with the EU and CIS member states. “Our association will deal with the attraction of investments and implementation of investment projects and will ensure the interaction with the Government, Parliament and other Moldovan public institutions,” stated Petru Burlacu. He also said that the founding members include the mayors of Cahul, Taraclia and Vulcanesti in southern Moldova, Floresti, Criuleni and Anenii-Noi in the center, and Balti, Soroca and Ocnita in the north of the country. They will all form part of the association’s executive body – the Union’s Council. According to the founding members, the Union of Towns of Moldova is a nongovernmental, apolitical and nonprofit organization consisting of territorial-administrative units – towns and municipalities.