Friday, January 15, 2010

Romanian upper house ratifies border trade agreement with Chisinau, many Moldovans can now travel to parts of Romania visa-free

The Senate, Romania's upper house, ratified a small-scale border trade and population flow agreement with Moldova yesterday, one day after the Chamber of Deputies did the same.

The treaty therefore becomes binding.

Titus Corlatean, chaiman of the Senate's foreign policy committee, said that, by ratifying the treaty, Romania is trying to send a "political signal" to Chisinau that it supports the country's European integration and wants closer ties.

The agreement allows Moldovans living 30 km within the Romanian border to travel to Romanian border towns visa free. This means that about one third of Moldovans can now visit Iasi, one of the largest cities in the country, relatively easily.

The agreement is widely seen as a sign of an improvement of ties between Bucharest and Chisinau after the tense and often acrimonious relationship that characterized Romanian-Moldovan ties when the Party of Communists was in power (2001-2009).

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