Group of consular officials came from Romania to accelerate visa issuance

A group of consular officials from Romania came to Moldova in order to engage themselves in the process of visa issuance, Ambassador Filip Teodorescu told Radio Romania. The head of the Romanian diplomatic mission says that the visa issue, which aroused intense debate, including at the highest level, is on its way to be solved with help from those 10 consular officials from Romania According to the ambassador, Bucharest takes several administrative and organisational measures in order that the visa regime between Moldova and Romania enjoys all the facilities within the Agreement between the governments in Chisinau and Bucharest concerning reciprocal travelling of citizens. Among these, according to Teodorescu, is the increase in the capacity of processing visas at the Consular Section in Chisinau, as well as the expectation of opening consulates in Cahul and Bati in the shortest term possible. An agreement with local authorities has already been reached. At the moment, the parties are looking for the locations where the temporary consular sections would be placed, the ambassador says. Filip Teodorescu says that the diplomatic mission has identified several buildings in order to switch the headquarters of the Consular section in Chisinau, which reached its physical space limits at the moment. This week alone, 600 visa requests have been collected, which have been dispatched to Bucharest, Teodorescu added. Head of the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MAEIE) Dorina Roman told Info-Prim Neo that at the current stage, the opening of the two consular bureaus in Cahul and Balti lays in the competence of the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau and the local public authorities. According to the cited source, MAEIE had the task to coordinate the first stage – to make the two parties meet. Within the meeting between the two heads of states, Traian Basescu and Vladimir Voronin, of January 16, the parties agreed that,in order to de-block the visa crisis 2 new consular bureaus would be opened in about 7 to 10 days.