President Voronin invites King of Sweden to visit Moldova

President Vladimir Voronin, who pays an official visit to the Kingdom of Sweden, met with H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf. According to the Press Service of the Presidency, the head of state mentioned that Moldova-Sweden relations have a historical background, referring to the year 1709, when King Charles XII of Sweden, wounded and defeated by Peter I in the battle of Poltava, was given shelter in the Moldovan town of Tighina. Voronin invited Carl XVI Gustaf to visit Moldova in 2009, 300 years after Charles XII placed his encampment on the territory of Tighina. Also, the head of state expressed his gratitude to the Swedish authorities for the assistance offered to Moldova through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. For his part, King Carl XVI Gustaf mentioned the availability of the Swedish authorities to continue supporting Moldova and strengthening the collaboration with Moldova through the Agency. The president also met with Peter Egardt, chairman of the Association of Swedish Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Egardt was interested in the fiscal policy promoted by the state and the fiscal pressure in the activity of the economic entities in Moldova, as well as in the security of foreign investments in light of the unsettled Transnistrian dispute. Also, he spoke about several aspects related to the quality of the workforce in Moldova. Egardt pleaded for establishing concrete commercial-economic cooperation directions between Sweden and Moldova, which would correspond to the interest of both states and would contribute to turning to good account investment possibilities in Moldova by Swedish investors. In this context, the director of the Agency for promoting exports in Sweden “Open Trade Gate Sweden”, Maria Anderssen De Frutos, mentioned about the possibility of organising seminars in Moldova, which would present the conditions and criteria for selecting Moldovan producers which would export their goods to Sweden. Within the frameworks of the same visit, the head of state met with the Governor of Stockholm County, Per Unckel. The Governor said that the cooperation relations established between the local and central authorities in Sweden are a model of European democracy in this field. At the meeting there was discussed the possibility of twinning the cities of Chisinau and Stockholm.