Romanian-Moldovan special relationship is reconfirmed

Presidents Klaus Iohannis and Maia Sandu reiterate the special connection between Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

Corina Cristea, 24.11.2021, 14:00

Accompanied
by ministers from the Moldovan government, including foreign minister Nicu
Popescu, the president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu travelled to Bucharest
on Tuesday where she met her counterpart Klaus Iohannis, for the fourth time since
becoming president of the former Soviet republic with a majority Romanian-speaking
population. The visit, which took place against the backdrop of the 30th
anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, also saw the
signing of a road map containing priority cooperation areas and the reconfirmation
by the two presidents of the special relation between Bucharest and Chișinău.

President
Iohannis said Moldova enjoys overwhelming and long-standing support in
Bucharest, from all political parties, and reiterated support for Chişinău’s
efforts to join the European Union:

I talked
to Madam President about all areas where we have common, high-impact projects, especially
energy interconnection and the consolidation of energy security, the
development of transport infrastructure, the prospect of continued
non-reimbursable aid to the Republic of Moldova through a new agreement, the
development of communications and cooperation in the field of education. We
also discussed at length the European agenda of the Republic of Moldova,
including in the run-up to the Eastern Partnership summit in December.

Romania
became the first country to donate Covid vaccines to Moldova and is the latter’s
biggest donor in this respect, having given out over 500,000 free doses. Romania’s
aid also consisted in 6,000 tonnes of diesel oil or fuel oil to produce thermal
power, president Maia Sandu pointed out:

Romania
has been and remains our firm supporter at an economic, political, diplomatic,
cultural and education level. The support granted is felt by our citizens in
all regions – whether it’s kindergartens and cultural institutions at national
level restored or built from ground up, school buses donated by Romania,
cultural programmes, academic exchanges, support for the media and civil
society. We celebrated together the 100th anniversary of the National
Theatre in Chișinău, thus emphasising the cultural, historical and linguistic
unity between our countries.

Moldovan
president Maia Sandu also spoke about the Romanian investments in Moldova,
saying she would like to develop the economic partnership and attract more Romanian
investors. Last but not least, during Sandu’s visit to Bucharest, the education
ministers of the two countries signed an inter-governmental agreement on the
mutual recognition of degrees, certificates and academic titles – a move meant
to consolidate bilateral relations in the field and improve the quality of
education and professional training systems in the spirit of European policies. (CM)