Next talks on Moldova-EU association agreement to be held in March
The next round of negotiations in plenary session Moldova - European Union on the Association Agreement will be held in Brussels in the third week of March 2010. At the same time, EU will provide Moldova with budgetary financial assistance additionally to a support on behalf of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The head of the European Commission's Directorate General for External Relations, Gunnar Wiegand, on 12 January made statements to this effect for journalists after the first round of negotiations on the Moldova-EU Association Agreement, held in Chisinau.
Gunnar Wiegand stressed that, within the talks, four working groups were set up, which will initiate the discussions on the political dialogue, economic cooperation, justice and security, as well as inter-human contacts. To speed up the process of negotiations, the sides agreed to meet in an unofficial format too, within videoconferences during which concrete subjects will be considered.
Wiegand said that this is an important progress for a process which unofficially started several weeks ago. He also said that this process fits into the Eastern Partnership, launched by EU for six states from Eastern Europe and Caucasus.
The head of the European Commission's Directorate General for External Relations also said that EU prepares a set of significant macro-financial assistance to overcome the impact of the economic and financial crisis. He stressed that the assistance is additional to the aid which Moldova is to get on behalf of the IMF.
Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and European Integration Minister Iurie Leanca said that this is the first Association Agreement which the European Union starts negotiating with a country after the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force.
The starting of the talks is in perfect agreement with the wishes of the authorities, as well as of the entire Moldovan society - to shift to a new qualitatively advanced stage in Moldova's relation with EU, Iurie Leanca specified.
During 2010, EU will send several technical missions which will consider possibility to initiate negotiations on the setting up zones of deep and extended free trade, as well as on the introduction of the liberalised visa regime.
The Association Agreement will replace the Moldova-EU Action Plan, which expired in February 2008.
The juridical and cooperation relation between Moldova and the European Union started in 1994, when the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was signed, which entered into force on 1 July 1998. The agreement's initial duration was ten years, and was subsequently automatically extended for an indefinite period.
Moldpres, Moldova's state news agency
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