The Prime Ministers of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, who met in Bucharest today, noted the unprecedented openness and the climate of trust in the bilateral relations. “We will make determined effort to use this window of opportunity and the dynamic dialogue at presidential, parliamentary and governmental levels,” the Romanian Premier Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă stated in a press briefing held jointly with his Moldovan counterpart Natalia Gavrilița, IPN reports.
Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă said Romania supports the extension of the Romanian investments in the Republic of Moldova, but the business climate will need to be improved so that it looks more attractive to Romanian investors. He mentioned the infrastructure projects that play a central role in connecting Moldova to the European area through Romania, with special emphasis on the building of the road bridge in Ungheni or the reinforcement of the Galați – Giurgiulești road bridge. As to the reduction of roaming charges, the Premier said the Romanian authorities encourage the discussions between the regulatory authorities and mobile phone operators of the two states so as to swifter find solutions.
“We also aim to develop projects in such areas as justice and internal affairs, healthcare, education, labor, agriculture, research, culture, the environment, water and forests and official development assistance. These are projects with a positive impact on the citizens, of support for the reformation process and for the development and modernization approaches. These actions are of strategic importance if we think, for example, about the actions aimed at increasing resilience by strengthening energy security,” said Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă.
For her part, Natalia Gavrilița underlined the “historical chance” to transform the community of language into a community of large projects for the benefit of the people from both sides of the Prut by building new bridges to ensure interconnection in the energy sector and to connect the transport infrastructure of the Republic of Moldova to the European networks or to lay the basis for facilitating telecommunications between the two banks.
Natalia Gavrilița noted this is a unique moment in Moldova’s history when all the senior state institutions – the Presidential Office, Parliament and the Government – together undertook, based on the people’s vast mandate, to implement a country project centered on the European integration as a benchmark for improving the quality of people’s lives so that the citizens trust that they can fulfill their wishes and aspirations at home. “We can achieve this desideratum, as I said, by building new bridges that would connect us with Europe, while the road to Europe naturally goes through Romania,” stated the Moldovan official.
She noted that a priority is to ensure interconnection between the energy systems of Romania and Moldova until 2024, to build roads to connect the two banks of the Prut and to link the road network of Moldova with the future Union Highway and the future Highway of Moldova. Another goal is to ensure railway connections between Bucharest and Chisinau and to build a European gauge railway in the long run. In three days, the train route between the two capitals will be resumed. The Iasi-Ungheni train route will also be restored.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița is paying an official visit to Bucharest at the invitation of her Romanian counterpart Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă.
