BUCHAREST, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Moldova and Romania will continue implementing bilateral projects, said on Friday Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip after meeting with his Romanian counterpart Mihai Tudose.
"There are a lot of joint projects which we want to continue. We established extension of the bilateral cooperation in the commercial and economic sector," Filip told a joint press conference with the Romanian prime minister, who is on a one-day working visit to Moldova.
The Moldovan prime minister expressed hopes that the gas pipeline connecting Romania to Moldova's capital city of Chisinau will be put into operations by the end of 2018.
"This is about independence and security, more precisely the energy security of the Republic of Moldova," stressed Filip, adding that they also discussed the electric power network of Moldova to Romania's power grid.
Filip emphasized, "Romania is the main commercial and economic partner of Moldova," and invited Romanian companies to invest in his country, by taking part in the privatization program of the Moldovan state-run companies.
Moldova's European integration had also been discussed at the meeting, according to Filip.
For his part, Tudose said that Romania will remain an advocate of Moldova's interests and pro-European aspirations at international level, and will further back the Moldovan government in carrying out more economic projects.
During the talks, the two prime ministers also agreed upon a joint government sitting in Chisinau this autumn and organize monthly ministerial meetings to spur the implementation of their joint projects.
This is the first working visit to Moldova by Tudose who was appointed to the office of prime minister late June. He also met Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu and participated in a ceremony where 96 school minibuses were donated to Moldova, under a memorandum signed on March 22 on education assistance, the second donation of school minibuses to Moldova, after 100 donated last year.
