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The Republic of Moldova — E.U.

• International experts warn that the Moldovan authorities are behind in implementing the Moldova-E.U. Action Plan. Hilde Hardeman, chief of a European Commission delegation which visited Chisinau, said that there are some concerns over freedom of expression and mass media in the Republic of Moldova, improvement of investment climate. The British ambassador to Moldova told the sitting of the Moldova-E.U. Cooperation Committee on behalf of the British E.U. presidency that the European community “is concerned with situation of justice, recommending more transparency in juridical procedures.” Bernard Whiteside invoked in this respect the holding of the mayor of a locality in Gagauzia, Mihail Formuzal, of Victoriabank chairman Victor Turcanu and former defence minister Valeriu Pasat.

• Charles Tannock, representative of the United Kingdom, has solicited the community authorities at a sitting of the European Parliament to make an offer of adhesion to countries which are or will become neighbours of the E.U. soon. Envisaging in particular the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, the European lawmaker said that an eventual adhesion offer for these countries could create serious motivations for promotion of reforms in these states, where most of citizens already warm the entry in the European community.

The Republic of Moldova — Russian Federation

• Official representatives of the Russian concern Gazprom have announced estimated natural gas prices for the CIS members and especially for the Republic of Moldova. According to press reports, 1,000 cubic metres of natural gas supplied to Moldova will cost about 150–160 dollars starting 2006, compared with 80 dollars at present. The price rise was confirmed by the Russian ambassador in Chisinau, who denied the existence of any “political” reasons the way the Gazprom representatives did, saying that the decision is based on objective “economic” causes. The competent authorities of Moldova have discussed in Moscow the quantities of gas that Russia will supply to our country in 2006, but no official contract containing the price of gas was signed so far.

• The Russian Foreign Ministry has released a communication saying that Moscow categorically opposes the introduction of references on Russia’s obligations to respect the commitments established at the 1999 Istanbul OSCE summit regarding the pullout of troops from the Republic of Moldova and Georgia in the final document of the OSCE Ministerial Conference. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “the main obligation established at the Istanbul Summit envisaged the reduction of the contingent of conventional armed forces in Europe and no progress from NATO member states is observed in this regard.” In the context, Vladimir Isakov, deputy defence minister of the Russian Federation, said that the withdrawal of Russian ammunition from Transnistria will not restart this year, even if a political decision on resumption of evacuation is adopted. He motivated that at least one month is needed for dispatch of a trainload with ammunition because such actions require “the coordination of issues on transportation of explosive substances in Ukraine’s territory and adoption of a decision in this regard by the Supreme Rada.”

• The chairman of the CIS Committee of the Russian State Duma said while on a visit to Chisinau that the Republic of Moldova runs the risk to lose the status of strategic partner of Russia, if it pleads for integration in the E.U. According to Andrey Kokoshin, the Republic of Moldova must establish the strategic development vector first and the future Moldova-Russian relations will depend on this vector. It ill be difficult to the Republic of Moldova to establish strategic relations with the E.U. and the Russian Federation because “there is a competition between Brussels and Moscow,” Kokoshin noted, invoking the example of Poland, whose relations with Russia have become colder after Poland’s integration in the E.U.

• Exports of agri-food products to the Russian Federation dropped by almost 100 million dollars in 10 months of 2005. Officials of the Chisinau Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry assured that the reduction of exports to Russia did not generate lower exports in general, because many businesses identified new sale markets (in Romania, Belarus, the Baltic countries, Ukraine, etc.) after institution of the embargo. On the other hand, organisations of exporters warned that the Moldovan exporters will lose 11–12 million dollars in 2005 because of the stop of exports of agricultural production to the Russian Federation.

The Republic of Moldova — Romania

• Romania will not introduce visas for citizens of the Republic of Moldova before its entry in the E.U., Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Filip Teodorescu has assured. The Romanian diplomat said that Romania is trying to establish a flexible basis for ties between the two states, considering the introduction of a maximal package of facilities for Moldovans. Teodorescu confirmed that the problem of drafting of the Moldovan-Romanian basic treaty will be tackled in the context of entry of Romania in the E.U., while the bilateral document will be based on community principles.

• The border authorities of Romania and the Republic of Moldova have signed a special protocol on exchange of information regarding supervision and control of the state border. The document calls for collaboration between sides in the area of management and training of human recourses, international relations and common assistance programmes. The sides also discussed problems related to joint border control, perspectives of cooperation for border guard, supervision and control, in order to combat illicit actions: illegal trafficking in persons, drugs, weapons, ammunition, radioactive and strategic material; clandestine migration, etc. A special plan on supervision and control on the Moldovan-Romanian border will be implemented in 2006.

Kiev Forum of Community of Democratic Option

• The Republic of Moldova participated in the constitution of the Community of Democratic Option and signed the declaration at the end of the forum that took place in Kiev, Ukraine, on December 2. Our country, represented by the chief of state, joined Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Georgia, with the nine countries agreeing to establish cooperation for development and strengthening of democracy. The signed declaration calls for cooperation of signatory countries with international institutions and organisations, representatives of governments and civil society with the purpose to coordinate support for new democracies. Taking part in the works of the forum were representatives of 23 states, while the U.S. representative in the person of the deputy secretary of state declared a special plenary support for outlined goals. Russian mass media, political researchers and representatives of the Moscow authorities described the constitution of this community as a try to influence the policy of the Russian Federation in the region.

• Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Romanian President Traian Basescu told the forum that they would continue to support the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict by granting all the support needed for this purpose to the Moldovan authorities. To note in the context that Deputy Reintegration Minister Victor Postolache asked the E.U. at a meeting with representatives of the European Commission “to encourage Ukraine in respecting the 2003 customs protocol.” The customs protocol stipulates the obligation of cargo exports through the Ukrainian border on basis of Moldovan customs stamps alone, but the Ukrainian authorities did not enforce it until now.

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