Today, the European Union has disbursed a grant of €36.4 million for the Republic of Moldova to continue supporting country’s fight against COVID-19 and police reform. Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi confirmed the disbursement during the visit of Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu in Brussels, IPN reports.
In a post on Facebook, Natalia Gavrilița said that she discussed the Moldovan Government’s priorities and the promotion of Moldova’s European agenda with the European official. They also discussed the justice sector reform, the economic recovery and improvement of the business climate, the management of the pandemic crisis and immunization of the population and also the consolidation of state institutions.
The Premier noted that Moldova is ready to raise the Moldova-EU relationship to a higher level. A new Association Agenda with the EU is to be adopted at the upcoming meeting of the Association Council. “We want to include issues related to security, justice and energy in the political dialogue. We bank on the identification of concrete support projects by the Directorate General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission (DG NEAR),” wrote Natalia Gavrilița.
For his part, Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi announced the intention to launch a pilot project to modernize the economy in rural localities all over the country by developing the food industry and agriculture. This way, there will be created well-paid jobs, the villages will develop and the citizens will no longer leave the country.