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Moldova PM to travel to Russia Monday for working visit

The trip is timed to coincide with the opening of a Days of Moldovan Culture festival in Russia

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

CHISINAU, September 10 (Itar-Tass) — Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat travels to Moscow on Monday for a two-day working visit at the invitation of Russian Head of Government Dmitry Medvedev. The trip is timed to coincide with the opening of a Days of Moldovan Culture festival in Russia, the Moldovan government press service announced.

The Moldovan Premier is to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, the Kremlin press service reported, the sides will discuss "matters of current importance concerning Russia-Moldova cooperation in the political, trade-and-economic, cultural-and-humanitarian fields, as well as interaction within the framework of the Comonwealth of Independent States and the European Union and exchamge views on ways to settle the Trans-Dniester Region problem".

"This visit is highly important to me: our government's programme refers to relations with Russia as strategic. Despite the negative influence of the world crisis, Russia remains our foremost trading partner: trade turnover between our two countries grew up to $1,500 million last year and increased by more than 20 percent since the beginning of this year," Filat told Itar-Tass in an exclusive interview on the eve of departure.

"We shall discuss cooperation in the field of energy, in which I 'd single out the question of deliveries of Russia's gas. Special attentio is to be devoted to the agreement on labour migration," the Moldovan Premier said. He pointed out that the agreement is aimed at upholding the rights of Moldovan citizens who work in Russia. According to statistics, they transferred almost $1,500 million home last year alone.

"During talks with Dmitry Medvedev we shall also determine promisiing areas of cooperation ahead of a session of the Intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation and a Business Forum in Chisinau with the participation of Russian and Moldovan businessmen at the end of October and early in November," Filat pointed out. He emphasized that cooperation between the two countries still has rather large reserves.

"Moldova is interested in giving greater scope to the deliveries of wines, meat, vegetables and other produce to Russia. We invite Russians to invest in agriculture, the energy sector, and other fields. There is also a great potential for cooperation in the field of innovations. This applies not only to food and light industries but also to hi-tech enterprises. I want to assure, for my part, that our government will never make empty promises, as was the case in the past," the Moldovan Premier stressed.

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