Heads of diplomacies from Moldova, Turkey set new goals of bilateral cooperation

Chisinau, 18 November /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu today had a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. The Turkish official’s visit to Chisinau confirms once again the advanced character of the bilateral relations and the common wish to strengthen the strategic partnership.  

The Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry’s (MAEIE) press service has reported that, during the discussions, the foreign affairs ministers assessed the stage of the relations between the two states and set new goals of cooperation for the next period, with emphasis on the commercial, economic and investments dimension.     

„The mission of the diplomacy is to be close to the people and their interests. In the context, we spoke out for starting negotiations, in order to remove the roaming tariffs and finish, as soon as possible, the procedures of ratification of the agreement on the conversion and mutual recognition of driver’s licences,’’ Minister Nicu Popescu said.   

During discussions, Nicu Popescu put special emphasis on the priorities of the economic diplomacy. He highlighted that Turkey continued to be a key partner of Moldova in the economic sector, ranking fourth as destination of goods made in Moldova. In the context, the officials agreed on organizing, in the near future, a new meeting of the joint inter-governmental commission for economic cooperation, - a constructive format for stimulating the cooperation between the business environments and the bilateral commerce.   

At the plenary meeting, the delegations analyzed also the evolution of the political and security situation in the region, including the Transnistrian conflict settlement process, as well as aspects concerning the mutual interaction and support at the regional platforms and initiatives: South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC), as well as the cooperation within international organizations.    

„We have made another concrete step towards the deepening of our cooperation through the signing of the plan of inter-ministerial political consultations for 2022-2023, which sees a concrete calendar of actions between the decision-makers in charge of the political, consular dialogue, as well as on the dimension of communication and public diplomacy from moth ministries,’’ Minister Nicu Popescu noted.  

The Moldovan diplomacy head expressed appreciations to the government of Turkey and the Turkish nation for the valuable financial and technical assistance provided to Moldova in the last years through Turkish International Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), in concrete sectors: education, health care, environmental protection, as well as for the assistance on behalf of the Turkish people provided to the health system of Moldova, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, from which the citizens of the country’s Transnistrian region benefited too.

In the context of marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Moldovan-Turkish diplomatic relations in 2022, Turkish Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu conveyed an invitation to minister Nicu Popescu to pay a visit to Turkey, an invitation accepted by the Moldovan official.    

Photo: MAEIE