Interlic.md

Interim Foreign Minister Catalin Predoiu told a news conference on Tuesday that Romania had attained its fundamental aim of resuming the dialogue with the authorities in Chisinau and made it clear that the working relationship with his Moldovan counterpart was 'excellent.'

'We have attained our fundamental aim of resuming the dialogue with the authorities in Chisinau, mention should also be made of the good organization of the visit paid by Premier Vlad Filat and Foreign Minister Iurie Leanca. This visit ended with positive conclusions and concrete actions agreed on by the two countries. We can say that, at this moment, we have an excellent pragmatic working relationship with the counterpart from the Republic of Moldova,' concluded Catalin Predoiu.

He made it clear that, as regards the relation with the Republic of Moldova, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) made an inventory of the measures that must be taken by the central administration following what has been agreed on during the visit paid by Premier Vlad Filat to Bucharest on November 13-14 and that they carefully watched the implementation of this programme. Catalin Predoiu also said that institutional resources from several ministries were mobilized for this purpose.

Romania and the Republic of Moldova on November 13, in Bucharest, signed the convention of the small cross-border traffic.

The agreement will make it possible for the people living near the Romania-Moldovan border to travel without any visa to Romania on a well-defined distance from the border. They were to receive a permit for small local cross-border traffic, which should be valid for one year at least.

The signing of the convention on the small cross-border traffic with the Republic of Moldova was initiated by Romania in March 2008 during the mandate of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Adrian Cioroianu. Romania took this initiative in its capacity as a European Union member state because similar documents are signed by most states lying on the EU border with their immediate neighbours. AGERPRES