CHISINAU, July 30. /TASS/. Moldova plans to sign an agreement with Russia on social guarantees for its nationals, President Igor Dodon said in an live broadcast on Odnoklassniki social network on Tuesday.
"We are now working in earnest in order to sign this agreement with Russia this year, maybe within the framework of a session of the intergovernmental commission scheduled for September in Moscow," Dodon said, adding that hundreds of thousands of Moldovans are working in Russia. He said the latest discussion on the issue took place several weeks ago.
According to the president, under an agreement on social guarantees, the employment history in this or that country will be taken into account when Moldovan nationals who have worked abroad retire.
"This is very important, given that we have about a million of our nationals abroad," Dodon said, adding that similar agreements had earlier been signed with several other countries.
In 2014, a program of economic cooperation between Moldova and Russia for 2009-2020 was devised. The intergovernmental commission was tasked with implementing this program. However, the most recent session was held back in 2016, as the former government of Pavel Filip (prime minister from January 20, 2016 to June 8, 2019) advised the officials against trips to Russia.
After the change of power in Moldova, these sessions will be revived this year. Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev is the commission's Russian co-chairman, while Deputy Prime Minister Vasile Sova chairs it from the Moldovan side.