Prime Minister Iurie Leanca attended a national conference "Cross-border cooperation: Moldova's Achievements in 2007-2013," held in Chisinau today. Leanca said that, for Moldova, the cross-border cooperation had constantly asserted itself as a field of concrete actions and facts, which yielded results for communities and people .
"These are vital projects for our good neighbourly relations with Romania and Ukraine, and for rapprochement with Europe. As they are programmes that contribute to improving the people's life - either by development of rural settlements, or by applying new practices in agriculture, enhancing the quality medical services or via development of tourism," he said.
Leanca referred to a some projects carried out within the cross-border cooperation programme. He pointed out the creation of SMURD emergency service, construction of Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline, restoration of the Costesti-Stinca dam, restoration of the Soroca fortress, construction of a modern agricultural compound in Singerei and a modern exhibition compound in Ialoveni.
"There are projects that cannot be seen but which will have a strong impact on increasing the state institutions' capacity to manage certain processes. It is about preponderantly the border management and domestic affairs", the prime minister said.
The premier voiced confidence that the next stage of the programme on cross-border cooperation, in 2015-2020, would be equally productive, and the projects on development and modernization of the country, carried out with the support of European partners, would get Moldova closer to meeting its main goal - accession to the European family.
Attending the event, Head of the EU Delegation to Chisinau Pirkka Tapiola congratulated Leanca for the way he involved in promotion of cross-border cooperation, which ensured an effective coordination to successfully implement the projects in this sector. The official said the EU would continue backing the cross-border projects for Moldova, Ukraine and Romania. "On the next period, we talk about 81 million euros for component Moldova-Romania alone. This is an allocation that will be used efficiently, and I am sure that, having past experience, it will be like this," Tapiola said.
The conference is organized by the State Chancellery, in partnership with the Regional Development and Construction Ministry and is supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). The event is set to consider the results achieved in 2007-2013 and to design future programmes on cross-border cooperation for 2014-2020. Attending the event were representatives of programmes and institutions involved in managing the cross-border cooperation projects.