Foreign Affairs on October 18–31, 2004

| e-journal #40 |

On October 19, Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Stratan flew to London for a two-day working visit. He met with Mr. Des Browne MP, Minister of State at the Home Office, Dr Denis MacShane MP, Minister for Europe, and Adam Ingram, Defence Minister.
Among the issues under discussion were a) President Vladimir Voronin’s initiative on Stability and Security Plan for Moldova; b) ways of settling Transdnistrian conflict; c) enforcing Republic of Moldova — EU Action Plan; d) ways of facilitating visa regime for Moldovan citizens; e) bilateral relations and cooperation in areas of security and frontiers; f) ways to attract investments to the Republic of Moldova by means of British Office for Construction and Consultancy, etc.
The same issues were high on the agenda during Minister Stratan meetings with NATO and EU high officials in Brussels on October 21.
On October 22, Minister Stratan joined the Reunion of Ministers of Foreign Affairs from the countries members to South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). Stratan signed a Declaration thereby Republic of Moldova joined SEECP as an observer. SEECP represents an important instrument for promoting the interest of the Participating States regarding the accession to the European and Euro-Atlantic political and economic structures.
Minister Stratan reviewed his official visits to London, Brussels and Bucharest during a press conference on October 25, and stated: a) in 2005 EU would open its representation in Chisinau, while Moldova would open its representation in Brussels on January 1, 2005; b) Republic of Moldova — EU Action Plan was to be signed on October 28 for it to be ratified by the new European Commission on November 22; c) EU expressed its interest to support Stability and Security Pact for the Republic of Moldova and it would coordinate its position with other countries invited to endorse the document; d) Romania would discuss Stability and Security Pact for the Republic of Moldova during Moldovan-Romanian bilateral ministerial consultations; e) Russian Federation also was favourable to the idea of signing Stability and Security Pact for the Republic of Moldova; f) NATO could not get involved in the resolution of Transdnistrian conflict but it closely watched the developments; g) the message Moldovan authorities were sending to foreign governments was that Chisinau continued to plead for settling Transdnistrian conflict via negotiations, however it was seeking an optimal solution as regards the format of negotiations.
At the invitation of Ilham Aliev, on October 26 President Vladimir Voronin flew to Azerbaijan for a two-day officials visit. A number of official documents were signed during the visit, among them Agreement on Long-term Economic Cooperation, Agreement between the Agriculture Ministries, Plan of consultations between Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Joint Declaration of the Two Presidents on enlarging cooperation in various areas, including within regional and international structures.
The Two Presidents opted for “joining efforts in view of peaceful resolution of territorial conflicts the two countries are confronted with, in line with generally accepted norms and principles of international law”.
During his visit, President Vladimir Voronin made several points: a) Republic of Moldova had no intention to leave CIS, although it regretted its low level of efficiency; b) it was necessary to adjust principles of cooperation within CIS to those within EU; d) scepticism as regards GUUAM, albeit several interesting initiatives were launched recently.
On November 1, Albanian President Alfred Moisiu started a two-day visit to the Republic of Moldova. The aim of the visit is to “boost bilateral cooperation as regards trade and European integration”. Two agreements were signed on farming and social security of the labour.

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Foreign Affairs on October 18–31, 2004

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