Romania's consulate in Cahul in exchange for Moldova's Consulate in Iasi

Moldova and Romania will open consulates in the cities of Iasi and Cahul, respectively. A decision to this effect was made at the meeting of Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu with Moldova President Vladimir Voronin, Info-Prim Neo reports. Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said today in a press release that, acknowledging the need for a broader legal framework for the Moldo-Romanian relationship, at the meeting it was expressed the willingness of both parties to speed up the negotiation process and preparations for signing the border treaty among Moldova and Romania, which will offer real prospects for further singing the Convention on the Small Cross-Border Convention. In this connection, there will be considered the possibility of opening on a reciprocity basis two consulates in Constanta and Balti, respectively. In addition, Romania's MFA has announced that, starting 11 July 2008, a simplified transit regime for Romania will take effect. Romania will unilaterally recognize certain documents as being equivalent to national visas in the case of its territory being transited by citizens of third countries that require visas. Thus, they may transit Romania within five days without having a transit visa for Romania if they hold visas and travel documents issued by EU member countries which have fully implemented the Schengen agreements (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, and Hungary) as well as Denmark, Iceland and Norway. The documents that excuse foreign citizens from the need to hold a transit visa for Romania are the “uniform visa” (Schengen), the long-term visa and the stay permit. In addition, transit visa will not be a requirement for the persons that hold a short-term visa, long-term visa or a valid stay permit issued by Bulgaria and Cyprus, and the persons that hold a valid stay permit for Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Even so, the citizens excused from Romanian transit visas must hold a valid travel document and papers justifying the purpose and conditions of the travel, and produce evidence that they have sufficient means of subsistence for the duration of the transit. Lazar Comanescu paid on July 7 an official visit to Moldova at the invitation of his Moldovan counterpart Andrei Stratan. This was the first official visit after the one paid by Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu in June 2007. On December 21, the then Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu came to Chisinau to officiate at the opening of the new headquarters of the Romanian Consulate, but held no meetings with the Moldovan authorities. Moldova's MFA labeled Cioroianu's visit “an unfriendly gesture”.