“Facilitating the integration of Moldova into the European Union is one of the priorities of Hungarian foreign policy, and we are now placing even more emphasis on this issue”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary Levente Magyar said on Monday in Budapest.

The State Secretary held a meeting with the Republic of Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Aureliu Ciocio, after which at a joint press conference he highlighted: “The government has decided to take concrete steps to reinforce bilateral relations”. “We are opening the gate to Moldova to Hungarian capital, are putting the question of a direct air passenger service back onto the agenda, and will be delegating experts to the Moldovan government to facilitate Moldova’s European integration with their professional knowledge of related issues”, he listed. “We are also tightening cooperation between our respective diplomatic academies, in addition to which we will be affording scholarship places to enable forty Moldovan students to attend Hungarian universities, and will be increasing this number at a later date”, he added.

“The Moldovan Foreign Minister’s visit to Hungary is occurring just a few weeks after the previous official meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers in Chisinau, and this visit is aimed at preparing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s planned visit to the Moldovan capital next month”, he pointed out. “All this indicates that dialogue between the two countries has become dynamic, and this is no accident in view of the fact that it is the firm belief of the Hungarian government that Moldova must be provided with all possible assistance to move closer to the EU”, he stated. “Not enough attention has been paid to this issue in recent years”, he added, explaining that: “If we do not help Moldova to become stronger economically and to reinforce is institutional system and all of the pillars that are vital to an independent, strong and sovereign country, then it could have unwanted repercussions for the region’s countries”.

The Moldovan Foreign Minister stressed that the Moldovan government is looking forward to Prime Minister Orbán’s official visit in March, when a strategic partnership agreement between the two countries will hopefully be signed, as such a move would confirm the importance of bilateral relations. The politician thanked Hungary for its efforts aimed at representing Moldova’s interests in the European Union. “We will definitely succeed in achieving our goal of joining the European Union thanks to this assistance” he stated, noting that: “Until then, Moldova still has a lot of work to do and must realise many reforms”.

(MTI)