PM says government willing Moldova's connection to network of European highways

Chisinau, 25 November /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita today had a meeting with European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  
After the meeting, the officials gave a news briefing, during which Natalia Gavrilita made the following statements:  
„Moldova is honoured to be the first country outside EU to receive the visit by European Commissioner for Transports Adina Valean. I am happy that we enjoy a fantastic understanding and openness on behalf of Mrs. Valean for Moldova, which gives support of our approaches at the European level.  
As you know, our government has major ambitions in the transport and infrastructure sector. Namely for this reason, we created a separate ministry which manages these problems. We have already sped up a string of projects underway and ensured the financing for the next years of more projects on roads’ restoration, with foreign financing.
Even if we faced more major crises just in the beginning of the mandate of this cabinet, we have managed to work out and adopt important decisions, by which, step by step, we corrected the mistakes of the former governances. These decisions already bring us positive results.    
We are quite delighted that the EU Air Safety Committee today announced the decision to exclude Moldova from the EU Air Safety List, the so-called black list. The Moldovan authorities committed to work, in continuation, to improve the situation as to the air safety.
And here, let me reiterate that we will endeavor to achieve a similar progress, in order to be excluded from the ‘’black list’’ of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control.
For us, it is also important to continue to develop and rehabilitate the network of the priority national roads. Moldova will benefit from the construction of a bridge across Prut in Ungheni. This bridge will shorten the travel to Iasi by 30 minutes. We will have a new bridge across the Dniester river, near Soroca, which will shorten the travel to Kiev and will attract new flows of goods transport. We are to rehabilitate the Giurgiulesti-Galati bridge, in order to enhance its capacity. We have ensured major financing for the segments: Leușeni-Chișinău-Dubăsari, Unguri-Soroca, Tighina-Căușeni-Cimișlia, Slobozia Mare-Giurgiulești, Hâncești-Leova-Cantemir, Vulcanesti belt and other roads which will become construction sites starting from the next year.    
And this is not all. The government wants to get the Railway of Moldova out of degradation. We approved a new Railway Code, which liberalized the services on the network of railways and open the way to new investments in the sector. We are in advanced discussions with partners from France for the modernization of the infrastructure on the Ungheni-Chisinau segment, which will shorten the time of movement of trains between Moldova and Romania by three hours. We also have other plans dealing with the Railway, about which I discussed with Mrs. Valean.    
Moldova’s connections with the world, especially with Europe, are a priority for the government; therefore, we were happy to have an open discussion today, focused on concrete details and projects, with a deep understanding of our country’s aspirations.
We discussed our wish to get, on medium term, possibility of gradual opening by EU of the road transport market based on the progress achieved by Moldova in the transposition of the EU’s relevant acquis.   
We want Moldova’s connection to the network of European highways. I know that we everybody wait for the moment when we can arrive in Bucharest from Chisinau much quicker on highway or for the moment when the Chisinau-Padua travel would last 14 hours, without dangers, without traffic lights, settlements or risks in crossroads.    
I am sure that these projects will be implemented; their becoming reality as quickly as possible is up only to us.
We count on the support of the European Union and Mrs. Adina Valean in the process of negotiation of the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership’s Summit due in December, inclusively by including not only of a strong political component, which would reflect our European aspirations and the European option, but also additional sectoral opportunities and namely the EU’s ambitious measures as to the carrying out of the green and digital transition (European Green Deal), EU Mobility Programme and reorganization of the energy complex.’’    
Photo: Government