Moldovan parliament denounces agreement with Commonwealth of Independent States on cooperation in field of books, printing

The parliament today approved, in first reading, with the vote of 59 deputies, the denunciation of the Agreement on cooperation in the field of publishing, distribution of books and printing within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The initiative, put forward by the Culture Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE), is motivated by the fact that the document, signed three decades ago, no longer corresponds to the interests of Moldova and the development goals of the cultural and publishing sector.

The draft was presented in plenum by State Secretary of the Culture Ministry Marcela Nistor, who explained that the agreement is outdated both in terms of cooperation mechanisms and its effectiveness.

"The need for denunciation stems from more considerations. The cooperation provided by this agreement is largely based on traditional mechanisms of physical circulation of publications and on institutional exchanges that involve considerable logistical and postal costs. The agreement does not provide financing mechanisms, dedicated funds or other concrete instruments that would support the participation of publishers, libraries or authors from Moldova in international projects," said Marcela Nistor.

The official underlined that, in recent years, Moldova had created its own support mechanisms for promoting books and national authors internationally.

"Through the Programme for the Translation and Publishing of National Books Abroad, we directly finance the translation of works by our authors and their publication by international publishing houses. In 2025, 13 titles in eight countries were supported, and in 2026 another 11 titles in nine states are being supported, including Italy, France, Spain, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece. A budget of over three million lei has been allocated for these programmes," specified Marcela Nistor.





During the debates, deputy Marcel Spatari said that the agreement no longer fit development direction of Moldova.

"This agreement belongs to another era, another paradigm. It is outdated. As a candidate state for the European Union, we cannot remain prisoners of these outdated agreements, which bind us, even symbolically, to a country that does not respect books and publishers," the deputy said.

The agreement proposed for denunciation was signed by the 12 CIS member states in 1995. According to the authors of the draft, its denunciation is part of the process of revising the treaties concluded on the CIS platform and of Moldova’s efforts to harmonize its regulatory framework and public policies with European Union standards.

The draft is to be examined in the second reading.