Moldova is interested in Croatia’s experience in talks concerning EU Association Agreement

The R. of Moldova is interested in establishing tighter cooperation relations with Croatia, in what concerns taking up its experience of harmonizing national legislation with the communitary legislation, staff preparation in the field of European integration, initiating talks concerning the EU Association Agreement, access to assistance programs of the Union, including those of institutional partnership as well as facilitating the visa regime with the EU. This interest was expressed by the Prime Minister Vasile Tarev at the end of the meeting with his Croatian counterpart, Ivo Sander. According to the Moldovan PM, the fact that the R. of Moldova became a plenipotentiary member of the South East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP), on May 4, 2006, essentially contributes to Moldova’s alignment with European values and standards, to the advancement of the European integration process. On the other hand, by signing, on October 10 the Charter on relations of good neighborhood, stability security and cooperation in South East Europe Republic of Moldova reconfirmed that it is a plenipotentiary part of the South East Europe community, affirms Tarlev. As part of the visit, sides discussed upon the perspectives of signing a new CEFTA agreement, the “CEFTA-Plus” agreement, in which, in addition to western Balkans, the Republic of Moldova will be included. During the visit to Croatia, an agreement was signed between the Governments of the two countries concerning their cooperation in the domains of culture and tourism. Croatians promised to simplify the visa regime for Moldovan citizens. The PM’s visit to Croatia takes place on October 23-24. The schedule includes meetings with the Croatian President, Stjepan Mesic, as well as with the speaker Vladimir Šecs. Aspects of collaboration in the fields of economy and tourism will be discussed. Till present, Croatian authorities and the Moldovan ones signed 11 bilateral treaties, including the Agreement concerning trade and economic collaboration, Free Trade Agreement, Memorandum of agreement between the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure of the R. of Moldova and the Croatian Ministry of Economy, Labor and Business concerning the cooperation in the domain of industry. Other 6 agreements are on the table.