On Monday, Chairman
of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn and President of the
Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Marian Lupu
signed a new Agreement on the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation.
The agreement was signed during the official visit of the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova to Ukraine.
So far, cooperation between the parliaments of Ukraine and Moldova has been governed by the agreement of 1995 which is formally obsolete and outdated.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine attaches great importance to the development of bilateral inter-parliamentary relations which plays a crucial role in the settlement of topical issues of cooperation between Ukraine and Moldova. V.Lytvyn supposes that the necessary conditions for such development have been arranged.
M.Lupu declared that signing of a new agreement will lay "a new foundation" for the intensification of the inter-parliamentary dialogue. He expects the current visit to turn over a new leaf in the inter-state relations.
Along these lines V.Lytvyn and M.Lupu called for developing the dialogue between the parliamentary committees and groups of friendship which should draft an action plan to make inter-parliamentary cooperation systemic.
M.Lupu invited V.Lytvyn to make an official visit to the Republic of Moldova at his earliest convenience.
The Chairman of
the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
thanked
M.Lupu for ratification of the Protocol on Amendments
to the Agreement between the Governments of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova
concerning Mutual Recognition of Rights and Regulation of Property Relations.
Considering results and effectiveness of the ongoing bilateral dialogue, V.Lytvyn called for taking stock of and expanding the contractual basis of bilateral relations in the trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stated that Ukraine highly appreciates the Agreement on Cooperation to support the Rights of National Minorities. He requested M.Lupu to facilitate ratification of this document by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
The Parties called for using the available capacities to strengthen economic cooperation.
M.Lupu thanked Ukraine for its positive stand in the regulation of the Transdniestrian conflict. The Parties called for a peaceful settlement of this issue. According to V.Lytvyn, Ukraine will support any model of the Transdniestrian conflict regulation, provided it is agreed upon between Chisinau and Tiraspol with the participants of mediators and observers in a "5+2´ format.
The Parties also discussed cooperation in the international parliamentary organizations such as EURONEST PA, laying emphasis on a fruitful dialogue and mutual support. They stressed that Ukraine and Moldova have a common foreign political priority namely, European integration. V.Lytvyn recommends that member-states of the parliamentary dimension of the Eastern Partnership adopt a joint stance concerning fixation of the European perspective in all documents of EURONEST.