The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Adrian Cioroianu officially opened the new headquarters of the Romanian Consulate in Chisinau on December 21. The Romanian minister said that his visit to Chisinau shows that Romania puts the development of the bilateral relations with Moldova high on the list of priorities. Adrian Cioroianu reasserted Romania’s support for the young people that want to study in Romania and for all the Moldovan citizens that want to have a better and safer future, which his country will encourage by easing the access to the labour market of Romania and of the European Union. Adrian Cioroianu invited again his Moldovan counterpart Andrei Stratan to discuss the bilateral relations between the two states. “I ask Andrei to cooperate in the removal of this wall of distrust and suspicion that seems to rise over the Prut,” the Romanian Foreign Minister said. He stressed that all Romania’s approaches are designed to show respect for the sovereignty, integrity and independence of Moldova and for the authorities of the state. The Romanian Foreign Ministry took cognizance of the decision to declare two diplomats of the Romanian Embassy as personas non grata and decided not to pay in Moldova’s own coin so as not to deteriorate the Moldovan-Romanian relations even more, the cited source said. Even if the new building of the Consulate will enable to expand the visa procession capacities (from 400 to 1,000 per working day), it is necessary to extend the consular services in the territory, Adrian Cioroianu said, mentioning that it would be welcome if the Moldovan authorities review the possibility of opening consulates in Balti and Cahul. The Consulate works from Thursday, but was inaugurated on Friday by the Romanian foreign minister who, accompanied by the Romanian Ambassador Filip Teodorescu, visited the new office. The three-storey building located on the intersection of Grigore Ureche and Ismail streets has 25 terminals for online visas,15 offices for working with the public and an office with free access that issues the processed documents to applicants and that provides information. The new Consulate has 60 employees. Adrian Cioroianu said that another eight offices from the third storey of the building, which are not yet used, will be outfitted for issuing visas for the EU member states so as the Moldovans do not have to go to Bucharest, on condition that the 15 offices manage to cope with the activities of the consular section. According to the Romanian Ambassador, the Consulate’s running costs in 2007 totaled 1.5 million euros and will amount to 2 million euros in 2008.