European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean and Chișinău Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu launched an EU-Republic of Moldova transport dialogue on Tuesday.
“The EU-Moldova High Level Transport Dialogue will be important for the European project and for pan-European connectivity. It will further deepen EU-Moldova relations as we work towards closer alignment of Moldova’s transport network with that of the EU. By bringing together transport experts and specialists from Moldova and the EU, we will be able to prioritise future work and establish where and how the EU can support this,” said European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean at a joint press conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg with Moldovan Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu.
The European Commissioner added that “although this dialogue is not about securing funding, it will focus on identifying priorities and funding possibilities, while also being a complementary tool to the working formats concerning the negotiation process for Moldova’s accession to the European Union”.
EU-Moldova transport dialogue. First meeting on 19 February
The first high-level meeting is scheduled for 19 February. The main items on the agenda will be future work to improve transport links between the EU and the Republic of Moldova, aligned with EU standards, as well as continued cooperation on solidarity corridors to keep the Republic’s and Ukraine’s goods moving despite Russia’s war of aggression, a European Commission press release said.
“While the economic effects are positive, the increased volumes of goods put additional pressure on Moldova’s infrastructure. I am well aware from formal and informal discussions with Minister Spînu that Moldova is making huge efforts to modernise its transport network and I know that it has also made progress in this area. We, as Romanians, remember with emotion the flower bridges, but, without being prosaic, it is time for cement and steel bridges, rail and road bridges across the Prut. Perhaps the symbolic train called Friendship, linking Chisinau to Bucharest, could gain attributes such as efficiency and speed in the not-too-distant future,” Vălean added at the press conference.
For his part, Andrei Spînu said that the launch of this high-level transport dialogue “is a confirmation of the excellent cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union in this sector”.
The Republic of Moldova is also an observer participant in the work of the Transport Community Treaty, which facilitates wider European connectivity, the European Commission added.
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