CIS Agreement on Interstate Humanitarian Fund denounced

The promulgation decree and the Law on the denunciation of the Agreement on the creation of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have been published in the Official Journal and have entered into force.

The initiative to denounce this document was put forward by the Ministry of Culture.

Previously, Minister of Culture Cristian Jardan said that the denunciation of the treaty was initiated in view of the ineffective implementation of its provisions for the benefit of the Republic of Moldova.

“Denouncing the treaty is initiated in view of the inefficiency of applying its provisions for the benefit of the Republic of Moldova, especially given the fact that the Republic of Moldova has not benefited from the assistance of this fund in recent years. At the same time, the denunciation of the agreement will not bring any financial-economic or other consequences. Since the moment of ratification of this agreement, the Republic of Moldova has not made payments or carried out financial activities within its framework and, of course, has not incurred debts to this fund,” emphasized Jardan.

At the same time, the official noted that the Republic of Moldova is focusing its attention on other partnerships, including in the process of accession to the European Union, being part of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon Europe”, the “Creative Europe” Programme, as well as the Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes.

“These instruments provide more advanced and more consistent support than those from the CIS,” concluded Jardan.

The document, signed in 2006, formed the basis for the creation of a fund intended to finance joint projects in fields such as culture, education, science, sports, tourism, mass media and youth activities. However, since the ratification of the agreement, the Republic of Moldova has not made payments and has not carried out financial activities within this mechanism.

Over the past two years, the Republic of Moldova has launched a broad process of reviewing the relevance and applicability of the treaties concluded within the CIS. So far, out of 283 CIS agreements, 71 have already been denounced, and approximately 60 are under review.

On April 2 this year, Parliament approved in second reading the denunciation of the Agreement on the establishment of the CIS, as well as the Protocol and the Statute of the organization, thus marking the definitive withdrawal of the Republic of Moldova from the statutory bodies of the CIS.