The Moldovan Premier accompanied by the U.S. Ambassador and EU Ambassadors working in Chisinau Thursday visited the Leuseni-Albita customs posts to see to what extent Moldova is ready for the liberalization of the visa regime. “We paid this visit in order to show the ambassadors that Moldova wants the visa regime to be liberalized and to become part of the EU,” Vlad Filat said, stressing that on January 1, 2011 Moldova is to introduce biometric passports and will take steps to secure the identification papers. He said Moldova lags behind in combating trafficking in human beings, corruption and other phenomena. “I assure you that in a short period of time we will be able to report to the EU that we fulfilled all the conditions needed to obtain a liberalized visa regime,” the Premier told the ambassadors. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalia Gherman said half of the conditions imposed for liberalizing the visa regime have been fulfilled. She stressed that compared with the neighboring countries, Moldova makes rapid progress. Asked to give the reforms implemented until now a mark, Natalia Gherman said it was a “six”. Dirk Schuebel, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Moldova, voiced hope that Moldova will manage to make progress, will obtain a liberalized visa regime and will ultimately join the EU. French Ambassador Pierre Andrieu said Moldova achieved great results. “I was impressed by the customs post's device that scans the trucks to identify irregularities,” he said. The Premier and the ambassadors were familiarized with the entire inspection process at the customs post. The acting head of the Leuseni-Albita customs post Veaceslav Lupu said a scanner for trucks worth €2 million was bought in order to meet the European standards. The money was provided by the EU. The Leuseni-Albita customs post is crossed yearly by about 1 million people and 350,000 motor vehicles. The persons stay in customs for approximately half an hour, depending on the passenger flow and the season , while the vehicles – for about 50 minutes. Veaceslav Lupu said 137 violations of the customs rules have been identified this year. There were seized 30,000 packs of cigarettes, which were transmitted to the Tax Inspectorate.