Moldova Seeks EU Integration, Rapprochement With Russia Simultaneously - Prime Minister

Moldova Seeks EU Integration, Rapprochement With Russia Simultaneously - Prime Minister

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2019) Moldovan Prime Minister Maia Sandu promised to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak on Monday that Moldova would advance it relationship with Russia while also pushing for EU membership, Sandu's press office said in a statement.

"Sandu emphasized the lack of discrepancy between the EU-Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area and the CIS Free Trade Area. The prime minister stressed that Moldova would adhere to a predictable foreign policy, based on EU integration goal and implementation of the Association Agreement with the European Union, while developing mutually beneficial relations with Russia," the statement read.

According to the statement, Sandu and Kozak underlined the need to relaunch the Russian-Moldovan intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation, including for the purpose of eliminating the Russian custom tariffs on 14 Moldovan product categories.

Moldova only recently recovered from a political instability period after the pro-Russian Socialists and the pro-Western ACUM party reached a coalition agreement to form a new government. Both Sandu and Moldovan President Igor Dodon favor normalizing relations with Russia, particularly when it comes to trade and energy.

The Russia-Moldova relations deteriorated in 2015, when the Moldovan government ratified the Association Agreement with the European Union. As it provides for Moldova to open its market for the EU goods, Russia issued a temporary import moratorium on certain Moldovan goods, fearing that Chisinau might become a wormhole route for EU goods, banned under sanctions in Russia, to the CIS and Customs Union markets.