Catherine Ashton travels to Moldova

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission Catherine Ashton travels to Moldova on a working visit, tomorrow.

In Chisinau she will meet with Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman. The High Representative will also meet the President of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, the Speaker of the Parliament, Igor Corman, and leaders of political parties and factions.

"Moldova has demonstrated its commitment to cooperation with the European Union and in Chisinau I will stress our reciprocal commitment to Moldova's political association and economic integration with the EU. I will also underscore the EU's support for the on-going political and economic reforms in Moldova, as well as in addressing challenges like stabilizing the institutions of democracy, fighting corruption and moving towards the settlement of the Transnistria-conflict," said Catherine Ashton ahead of her visit.

The visit program has not been specified finally yet, but it is known that Catherine Ashton will come to Chisinau on July 9 afternoon and will fly to Kiev on Tuesday night.   

Her meetings in Chisinau and Kiev will focus mainly on cooperation within the Eastern Partnership Program and on the perspectives of the European integration of the two countries. It is believed that at the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius (Lithuania) next November, the European Union will initial the Association Agreement with Moldova and will sign such Agreement with Ukraine. Kiev began negotiations on the Agreement a few years before Moldova, and initialed the document with the European Union on March 30, 2012.     

A preliminary agreement on Catherine Ashton’s visit to Chisinau was reached in the course of the first visit Iurie Leanca paid to Brussels in the status of Moldova’s new Prime Minister. Ashton was already welcomed here on March 3, 2011 and on June 5, 2012.   

Adapted from infotag.md

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