The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, and his Moldovan counterpart, Nicu Popescu, discussed on Wednesday, in Bucharest, the current state of the neighbouring country’s European integration efforts, as well as the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the security challenges faced by the Republic of Moldova, write Agerpres.

According to a press release sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) to AGERPRES, Minister Aurescu held a consultation session with his counterpart from the Republic of Moldova, Nicu Popescu, on Wednesday, in the context of his participation in the first Conference on Black Sea Security taking place under the aegis of the International Crimea International Platform and the trilateral meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs, with the participation of the defence ministers from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, which will take place on Thursday in Bucharest. The Minister of Defence from the Republic of Moldova, Anatolie Nosatii, also participated in the meeting.

The two ministers analyzed the current status of the European integration efforts of the Republic of Moldova, with an emphasis on the fulfillment of the nine recommendations of the European Commission from June 2022 and, on a broader level, on the current status of implementation of reforms undertaken by the Government in Chisinau. In this context, the methods of support from Romania were also discussed, both from a political viewpoint and in terms of the concrete transfer of expertise.

The discussions also focused on the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as on the security and hybrid challenges faced by the Republic of Moldova.

Thus, Minister Bogdan Aurescu evoked the status of his initiative, presented at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on February 20, to create a regime of sanctions to counter destabilizing actions against the Republic of Moldova and its constitutional order.

Also, the two ministers discussed the main measures at the EU and NATO level to strengthen the resilience of the Republic of Moldova, and priority attention was paid to the prospects of launching the EU Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova (EUPM Moldova), a civilian PSAC mission whose establishment was strongly supported by Romania.

Aspects related to the support offered to the Republic of Moldova through the European Peace Facility (EPF) of the European Union were also addressed. Minister Bogdan Aurescu also emphasized that Romania continues to contribute to the NATO programmes for developing the defence capabilities of the Republic of Moldova, including by earmarking an amount of 750,000 US dollars for this purpose, in addition to the 600,000 US dollars already allocated.

At the same time, the two high-ranked officials addressed priority projects on the bilateral sectoral agenda, especially the stage results of the efforts to expand the electricity interconnections and the transport infrastructure, as well as the transit capacity at the border between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. They also discussed the current implementation stage of the bilateral projects financed by Romania, especially based on the bilateral Agreement on non-reimbursable assistance in the amount of 100 million euros.

At the same time, the Romanian and Moldovan officials discussed cooperation between Romania and the Republic of Moldova in the preparation of the European Political Community Summit, which will take place in Chisinau, on June 1, as well as the fourth ministerial meeting, which will be organized in Chisinau, in the fall of this year, of the Support Platform for the Republic of Moldova, created in 2022 and co-chaired by Minister Bogdan Aurescu together with counterparts from Germany and France.