Press statements by Moldovan PM after meeting with Romania's counterpart

Mr. Prime Minister Bolojan,

Thank you for the invitation and the warm welcome.

I am honored to have my first foreign visit to Bucharest, a second home for our citizens. A home where we share joys in the same language, learn lessons of resilience and dignity from the same history, and build our common cultural heritage for future generations.

The special relationship between Chisinau and Bucharest is known by everyone. The catalyst of this heartfelt partnership is the indivisible relation between the people on both banks of the Prut River.

And Romania has never forgotten us, but has placed much trust in our strength, supporting us on the European path and making essential investments, so that Moldova can develop true independence.

Romania - without hesitation - has continued to promote us, believe in us and offer us openness.

In the past, iron fences stood between us; today we are building bridges, different and strong bridges - energy interconnection, roads and bridges that are part of a common European infrastructure, freedom of movement, increased trade exchanges and mutual investments, direct partnerships between educational institutions, the same performances played in Chisinau, Iasi, Balti and Timisoara.

And, of course, the most enduring bridge is the accession of Moldova to the Great House - the European Union. This wish has been clearly expressed by our citizens – at the presidential elections, parliamentary elections and at the referendum.

Our European aspirations have emerged victorious in a fierce struggle. On the one hand, we faced immense disinformation, vote buying, hybrid threats, cyberattacks, false bomb alerts, involvement of criminal groups in attempts at destabilization and violence. On the other hand, we had the state's institutions, civil society, free press, and citizens. A fight for European values, for truth and for the future of our children and grandchildren, a fight we could not afford to lose, and we did not lose it.

On these pillars, we also build European integration. We have political will. And we have Romania by our side. At every stage, we benefit from Romania's experience and its role as an advocate in European capitals.

We have a very clear common agenda, an agenda for the next 10 years. The commitment of the governments in Chișinău and Bucharest is to stick to this agenda, because only in this way, concrete results will come faster into the lives of citizens.

We have many fields and projects on this agenda:

Energy interconnection remains the top subject on the agenda. We thank Romania for access to the electricity market, as well as for supporting our integration into the European energy market.

We have new goals for developing energy infrastructure, alongside the three lines already planned to be ready by 2028, with Vulcanesti-Chisinau being 90-per cent completed. We are talking about new interconnection projects with Romania and Ukraine - Vulcanesti–Smârdan, Comrat–Smârdan, and Vulcanesti–Artsyz, in order  to enhance regional connectivity.

Moldova has managed in recent years, thanks to Romanian and European support, to no longer depend on Russian gas. We are becoming an active regional partner and a key partner in the Vertical Gas Corridor, which connects Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.

We want to expand cooperation - it is important for us the contract signed in the last summer between Energocom and OMV Petrom, in order to access gas from Neptun Deep; we invite companies from the Romanian market with experience in green energy production and storage systems to participate in our tenders.

We have also expressed our intention to participate in the construction of the next block at Cernavoda.

So, as you can see, our common plans are ambitious.

In roads and bridges - similarly - we have a very well-established strategic vision - we have already begun work on the first road bridge over the Prut in the last 6 decades. We want to build a new bridge at Albita, operationalize the Cantemir-Falciu railway connection and connect to the Romanian railway network and highways.

Romania stays the main commercial partner and main investor. We already have over 1,600 Romanian companies in Moldova - I am sure that this number can and should grow. And the good Moldovan products - sought in Romanian cities - should be available on as many shelves as possible.

We appreciate Romania's technical support and expertise in strengthening our institutional and cyber resilience. We want a more active collaboration to counter cyber risks, protect critical infrastructure and provide professional training in digital security.

Cooperation in education and culture is natural and healthy for students and young people on both banks of the Prut. We have 100 joint projects in research, a Romanian book fair in both Chisinau and Bucharest, the Meeting of Romanian Theatres and Romanian Film Days. But culture and education have no limits. We can build on these achievements further and more.

Each restored heritage building, each light bulb, each road, each school bus, each bridge, each renovated kindergarten means we are moving in the right direction. Together, they make a big difference in the daily lives of people. A dignified life and peace are the goals that unite us and the foundational pillar of our governments' collaboration.

Mr. Prime Minister, I have recently made a statement, taken out of context, which generated many interpretations. I want you to know that Romania is so tied to our fate and we to Romania's that any success makes us equally happy and any regression worries us all. For many years, especially since Romania joined the EU, we have followed with admiration and joy your progress, the pace with which the Romanian society is economically developing. Romania was a benchmark for us, and we rejoiced together for it. And now, in recent years, we have also begun to rejoice for Moldova's successes.

Mr. Bolojan,

Romania has helped us many times. Our plan is to transform from a country that needs help into a state that will continue to contribute to regional security, energy connectivity in this area, and European unity. Moldova is building, with constant help on behalf of Romania, a path alongside European states. We have much to do together - and as we say - 'To more and greater'!