Moldovan President Maia Sandu gave a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during her visit to Kyiv on 27 June.
She congratulated Ukraine on gaining EU candidate status, noting that the two sides have agreed to work together to strengthen the two countries’ ties with the EU.
Mrs. Sandu discussed the security situation with the Ukrainian president. “We are carefully monitoring all events in Transnistria and we do not see any impending threats. We are doing everything possible to prevent this separatist region from posing a threat to Ukraine and Moldova. Ukraine and Moldova must maintain a regular dialogue on security issues that affect our states,” Sandu said. She added that Kyiv and Chisinau have agreed to cooperate in order to “maintain stability and avoid provocations aimed at destabilizing the situation”.
The Moldovan president also mentioned Ukrainian refugees in her country, expressing readiness to accept more people if the need arose. Moldova is a small country with modest resources, but we are ready to provide our support for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. During our conversation we discussed economic cooperation, with a special focus on common concerns in the energy sector,” she added.
For his part, Zelenskyy thanked Sandu for the decision to send a demining unit to Ukraine to help with demining, as well as for helping Ukrainians who had left for Moldova. According to President Zelenskyy, Ukraine and Moldova should strengthen cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, economy, energy, politics, cross-border cooperation and security. He commented on energy cooperation, in particular: “After successful connection of Ukrainian and Moldovan energy systems to the common continental European energy system, today we have many new opportunities for work in the so-called energy market of the European Union and for bilateral cooperation. Our common goal is to make the most of these new opportunities.
The Republic of Moldova supports sanctions against russia, which the EU will only strengthen. After all, being a candidate for the European Union implies showing solidarity with European countries.
