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Moldovan president seeks three-party trade talks with EU, Russia

Igor Dodon is planning to suggest a certain mechanism "that will be advantageous for all parties"
 Moldovan President Igor Dodon Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Moldovan President Igor Dodon
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

CHISINAU, March 14. /TASS/. Moldovan President Igor Dodon said he would be seeking three-party negotiations with the European Union and Russia on trade and economic cooperation despite Brussels’ refusal to discuss ties in this format.

"I will discuss this issue within the framework of a trip to Moscow that I will make this week, and I am also ready to discuss it and go to Brussels as often as it will be needed to argue EU officials into making such a decision," the presidential press service quoted Dodon as saying as he met with EU ambassadors in Chisinau.

Igor Dodon is planning to suggest a certain mechanism "that will be advantageous for all parties," the press service said.

Moldova’s new leader regards as disadvantageous the agreements on association and creation of a zone of free trade with the EU, signed in 2014. He stressed that exports to the European Union have not grown sizably within this years, while Moldova has lost the Russian market that used to be strategic for it.

Earlier, the head of the EU delegation to Moldova, Pirkka Tapiola, said the EU was not going to participate in such negotiations, ruling out a three-party dialog. She also deems wrong the moves Russia took fearing re-exports of European goods via Moldova, and imposing duties on imports of some Moldovan products.

At the same time, Russia’s trade representative in Moldova, Vladislav Darvai, said incidents when European products are re-exported to Russia under the guise of Moldovan have already been fixed. He also mentioned sanctions against Moscow imposed by the European Union.