Moldova wants to resume comprehensive relations with Russia — FM

CHISINAU, April 26. /TASS/. Moldova wants to resume comprehensive relations with Russia, Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Andrei Galbur said on Tuesday.

"We are all interested in resuming all-round relations with Russia, both in what concerns political dialogue and in what concerns trade-and-economic ties and within international organizations," he said at a meeting of the parliamentary commission on foreign policy.

However, he admitted, it could not be done due to political instability in Moldova. "We discussed this issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He noted that due to frequent changes of governments efforts to resume political dialogue and trade-and-economic relations between the two countries have been failing. Political instability in Moldova is a major obstacle on this path," Galbur noted.

"We also discussed the entire range of issues with the Russian colleague. Our trade-and-economic relations leave much to be desired although we have no conflict situation. A meeting between our deputy prime ministers, Octavian Calmic and Dmitry Rogozin, will be organized soon. After that meeting, the inter-government commission they are co-chairing will resume its activity in a regular regime," the minister said.

He explained why Russia is not listed among Moldova’s strategic partners in the government programs like it used to be before. "Strategic partnership is a two-way street. Russia has taken a unilateral decision to ban imports of Moldovan products without discussing that problem with Moldova. This decision was motivated by purely political considerations, not economic reasons," he said. In his words, to overcome problems in bilateral relations it is necessary to "abandon politicized approaches, to look into the future and resume economic relations." "The more so as Moldovan products are in demand on the Russian market," the Moldovan foreign minister added.