Intergovernmental Moldovan-Russian commission failed to reach agreement

The intergovernmental Moldovan-Russian commission, which gathered on Monday, November 27 in Moscow after three years of inactivity, failed to reach an agreement as concerns resuming wine exports to Russia and settling the price for the supply of natural gas. Sources from the Moldovan mission declared that the discussions related to the price of natural gas supplies and wines will be continued by experts. The results of these negotiations could be available at the end of 2006. The Moldovan party pleads for reasonable prices of natural gas which would comply with the realities of Moldova. Within the frameworks of the 8th session of the intergovernmental Commission, the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation signed several agreements related to the social and cultural fields. At the same time, the “Rospotrebnadzor” state service continues fighting Moldovan wines, this time on the territory of Ukraine. According to the chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation, Ghendaie Oniscenko, “Rospotrebnadzor” intends to halt supplies of wines coming from Ukraine, because the Russian Federation suspects that Ukraine sells Moldovan wine in Ukrainian bottles. At present, “Rospotrebnadzor” verifies the Ukrainian alcohol, after it prohibited the export of wines produced by two enterprises from Ukraine and stated it could halt definitely the import of Ukrainian wines.