Sergey Mironov, the President of the Federation Council of Russia’s Federal Assembly and Boris Gryzlov, the President of the State Duma will visit Moldova in different periods of this year. Sergey Mironov is expected between May 18 and 20, while Boris Gryzlov in October, Info-Prim Neo reports quoting the Media Relations Section of the Moldovan Parliament. According to the communiqués, the visits were agreed on at separate meetings of speaker Marian Lupu with the two Russian officials in Saint Petersburg. Marian Lupu participated in the reunion of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Community of Independent States (IACIS) and in the 30th plenary reunion of the IACIS in Russia’s northern capital. The interlocutors underlined the importance of Sergey Mironov’s trip to Chisinau in the perspective of expanding the political Moldovan-Russian dialog and of enhancing political, economic and trade contacts between the two countries. Marian Lupu and Sergey Mironov remarked the good relations, traditionally friendly, between Moldova and the Russian Federation, particularly emphasizing the dynamic contacts within the interparliamentary relations. In the same context, Marian Lupu and Boris Gryzlov saluted the latter one’s visit planned for October, particularly remarking that a visit of top Russian officials to Moldova had not taken place since 2002. The interlocutors pleaded for organizing a new reunion of the Moldova-Russian interparliamentary committee in Chisinau in 2008. The last sitting of the respective committee occurred last fall in Moscow. The officials also tackled aspects of solving the Transnistrian conflict, underlining the positive dynamics recorded lately in the Moldovan-Russian dialog on these issues. At the same time, the interlocutors pleaded for resuming the talks within the extended 5+2 format and emphasized the importance of finding a viable solution to the conflict. Marian Lupu met with Arseni Yatsenyuk, the President of Ukraine’s Supreme Rada in St. Petersburg. Lupu told his counterpart Ukraine was a friendly country and a strategic partner of Moldova. The sides pleaded to develop and expand the Moldovan-Ukrainian relations, accentuating the need of mutual support in the European integration of the two countries. They also tackled a series of aspects concerning topics of common interest for the two countries. The sides emphasized the need to tackle those issues “in a package”. They also discussed aspects related to the solution of the Transnistrian conflict, voicing for resolving it within the extended negotiating format of 5+2. At Marian Lupu’s reunion with Goran Lennmarker, the chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the European official said the OSCE pleaded for Moldova’s reunification and joining the European family. The OSCE official reiterated the OSCE’s commitment to identify a viable solution for the Transnistrian conflict and to resume the talks within the 5+2 format the soonest possible. According to him, the OSCE is available to contribute with assistance to organize actions easing the identification of a viable solution to Nistru conflict, Lennmarker underlined. Marian Lupu highly appraised the OSCE’s PA’s contribution to back up Moldova in identifying a viable solution to the Transnistrian conflict and reconfirmed Chisinau’s strong commitment to identify a solution to the Transnistrian issue only within the 5+2 format, which insured the transparency of the negotiating process, and confers legitimacy and guarantees to Moldova. The officials shared the opinion that the Transnistrian issue can be settled on the basis of the will of the conflicting sides, as the conflict did not contain ethnic or religious elements. Marian Lupu also pointed out the importance of Moldova’s cooperation with the OSCE in the prospect of the parliamentary elections of 2009. The Moldovan speaker reiterated the country’s authorities’ commitment to insure a free and fair electoral exercise in the spirit of fundamental European values. At the St. Petersburg reunion of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Community of Independent States, they tackled issues on the work of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, including aspects on the development concept of the CIS, funding the CIS IPA, the results of the monitoring missions of the Assembly at electoral polls, unfolding joint cultural events.