Chisinau, 25 November /MOLDPRES/ - Parliament Speaker Mihai Ghimpu today had a meeting with the director of the Office for Promotion of Parliamentary Democracy (OPPD) at the European Commission, Dick Toornstra, and an OPPD manager, Mihaela Vincze. The sides discussed the launching of a common project of assistance from the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of the Moldovan parliament and its efficient organization, parliament's media relations service has said.

Discussions on this project were held during a 24 November meeting between Moldovan acting President Mihai Ghimpu and the experts of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Willem Hendrik and Olga Kostenko.

The president highly appreciated the EU's openness towards Moldova over the last years, noting that the common project of assistance is an eloquent evidence in this regard. A presidential decree on the initiation of negotiations on the draft agreement between Moldova and the European Communities has been recently signed. These negotiations and the signing of a new agreement with the EU will allow national authorities strengthening the Moldova-EU cooperation in sectors of strategic interest, Ghimpu said. He added that the document is also meant to step up the parliament's administrative capacity and the institutional framework through the exchange of experience, transfer of best practices and implementation of reforms in various areas in accordance with the European principles and values. Ghimpu welcomed the intention of the European Commission and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to launch a common project of assistance for the Moldovan parliament, which will contribute to the gradual adjustment of the national legislation to the acquis communautaire.

The project aims not only at meeting the parliament s technical needs, but also at strengthening the functional capacity to efficiently organize the parliament's work. In this vein, trainings and seminars for MPs are to be organized in relevant institutions of EU member states and international inter-parliamentary organizations, courses for studying foreign languages are to be held as well.

Dick Toornstra handed Ghimpu a letter from European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, inviting a group of MPs and officials to pay a fact-collecting visit to the European Parliament. Mihai Ghimpu thanked the official for this invitation and reiterated the importance of his visit to Brussels from early October.

The Office for Promotion of Parliamentary Democracy (OPPD) at the European Commission was founded in 2008 to support parliamentary institutions in emerging democracies beyond the EU borders.