Mayors' Association asks preserving Ministry of Local Administration

The Association of Mayors and Local Collectives of Moldova asks that the Ministry of Local Public Administration be not dissolved, Info-Prim Neo reports. Members of the Association told a news conference on September 16 that the Ministry must direct and monitor the implementation of the state policy at local level. “For us, the Ministry of Local Public Administration is a vital necessity. We need a powerful ministry, a partner that will promote the interests of the local public authorities in the relations with the central authorities. We can go for consultation and seek help from this Ministry,” said Gheorghe Anghel, the mayor of Stefan Voda town and a leader of the Association. According to Anghel, the Association suggests including a regional development agency in the Ministry's composition so as to ensure connection between the local public authorities of the first and second levels in the implementation of joint projects at local level. The mayor also said that the Association will ask the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe to pronounce on the new central authorities' intention to close the Ministry and will inform the foreign embassies working in Moldova about this problem.