On 27 February, a delegation of the Government of Romania, led by Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, carried out a working visit to Chisinau. It was aimed at reconfirming Romania’s support for the European path of the Republic of Moldova, as well as continuing the joint projects and consolidating the collateral economic relations.

The Romanian Prime Minister appreciated the increased involvement of the Parliament in Chisinau in pursuing reform efforts and applying the European commitments. She also mentioned the positive evolutions recorded so far in the European file of the Republic of Moldova, evolutions to be capitalized in the perspective of Romania’s presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila conveyed, during the meeting in Chisinau with the Moldovan Parliament President Andrian Candu, Romania’s firm support for the pro-European path of the neighbouring country, both by supporting the European aspirations of the Republic of Moldova at the level of the European Union states, as well as by strengthening the bilateral cooperation on the investment dimension.

Transgaz won the tender for Vestmoldtransgaz’s privatization

During the discussions, the commercial and economic cooperation between the two parties was also assessed.

“The Republic of Moldova has increased its exports to the EU market and reached a share of over 65%, the most important trade exchanges being with Romania. Last year, we exceeded the figure of USD 1.303 billion, Romania ranking first not only in terms of trade exchanges, but also when we talk about investments.

We welcome the entry in the market of the Republic of Moldova of Banca Transilvania and the opening in Chisinau of the representative office of the gas transmission operator Transgaz and its decision to participate in the investment contest for the privatization of the state-owned company Vestmoldtransgaz.

On this occasion, I would like to announce that yesterday, 26 February, the Commission for conducting privatization contests announced the results of the contests, in which SRL Eurotransgaz, whose single shareholder is Transgaz SA Romania, became the winner of this competition.

Through this exercise, we must admit that Transgaz Romania and, if you want, the Romanian state after all, have confirmed their serious and good intentions to contribute to the consolidation of the energy security of our state. I believe there is no doubt about how important energy security is for the Republic of Moldova.

If so far, we talked about the possibility to import gas from a single source, this investment will ensure a diversification of gas import sources, which is the basis of the energy security of a state,” the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Pavel Filip, stated.

There were also discussions on the construction of bridges, vital projects for the economy of the Republic of Moldova. Pavel Filip expressed his gratitude for the inclusion of Targu Neamt – Iasi Ungheni motorway (including the construction of the bridge in Ungheni) in the national construction project of Romania.

“Interconnection projects, including the operationalization of the Ungheni – Chisinau interconnector, are a priority not only for Bucharest and Chisinau, but are a major project, with regional relevance on the agenda of the European Union, within the framework of the Eastern dimension policy,” Viorica Dancila said.

“We welcome the progress recorded in terms of energy interconnection, in terms of natural gas, and we are interested in the completion as soon as possible of negotiations between Transgaz and the partner in the Republic of Moldova,” the Romanian Prime Minister also mentioned.