Highlights of Minister’s visit to Moldova– publicity and continuation of reforms
Finishing his visit in Chisinau on September 2 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the Prime Minister of Moldova Iurie Leancă and expressed support for Moldova’s euro-integration reforms that have being actively implemented by the country.
"Moldova is pioneering in implementing eurointegration reforms. Therefore, citizens of Moldova can only win – they can already travel without visas to the EU and the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, including Free Trade Agreement, is already applied. The country, its people and businesses are enjoying very tangible benefits,” said L.Linkevičius.
During the meetings in Chisinau, the Foreign Minister underlined the need of presenting Moldova’s achievements and thus to dispel unfounded fears and prejudgments.
“What has been achieved, including free trade agreement and visa-free regime, took a lot of efforts. There is a need for people to see progress and understand practical benefits. For example, Moldova’s bilateral trade with Lithuania grew by 25 per cent since the implementation of a free trade regime. The EU has increased export quotas of Moldovan fruits several times already,” said L.Linkevičius.
Officials discussed possibilities to step up efforts to promote bilateral trade and help business in the two countries as a reaction to the Russian blockade of products. It was noted that Lithuanian dairy products might be interested for Moldova’s market while Moldovan fruit growers are actively looking for alternatives to sell their products.
Lithuania shares its reform experience with Moldova, and finances over 80 bilateral projects in the fields of labour and social policy, customs, agriculture and standardization. The possibility of sending Lithuanian justice experts to Moldova was discussed with Prime Minister I.Leancă.
“Lithuania has eurointegration experience and can help Moldova to avoid making certain mistakes,” said the Lithuanian Minister when co-chairing the meeting of the Lithuania-Moldova Commission for European Integration.
Photo: Press Service of the Prime Minister of Moldova
