Moldova

"The European path represents the only viable way for the future of the Republic of Moldova," President Klaus Iohannis stated on Wednesday upon welcoming at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Iurie Leanca, informs a press release of the Presidential Administration sent to AGERPRES.

Romania says it will issue 14 working and diplomatic passports to clergy of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia, which is canonically subordinate to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church in the former Soviet republic is split between the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, which is subordinate to the Moscow Partriarchate.

AGERPRES special correspondent Daniel Florea reports: Prime minister Viorica Dancila on Tuesday reiterated at a meeting with the European Council's President Donald Tusk, Romania's strong support for the enhancement of the European project.

After two months at the head of the Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, Vitalie Pirlog handed in his resignation stating that he wanted to return to Interpol, which he had left in December last year.

He explained that it is his "desire to continue important reforms at the initiation of which I participated in the Interpol File Control Commission."

The Moldovan Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases, PCCOCS, said on Tuesday that it has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by online charity platform caritate.md.

The claims were made in a report by journalists working for RISE Moldova, a media outlet affiliated to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Monday attended a working lunch with the ambassadors of EU member states accredited in Bucharest, organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Romania amidst the ongoing Bulgarian presidency of the EU Council, discussing, among other things, the importance of the post-Brexit European summit to be hosted by the city of Sibiu.

If I were the Tourism Minister, I would convince the Education Minister to introduce the obligation to organise trips with domestic destinations for pupils, so they can firstly know their country, history and geography and then countries such as Spain, Italy or France, President of the Federation of Romania's Tourism Promotion Associations (FAPT) Corina Martin stated.

The volume of Moldova's foreign trade increased by almost 20 per cent in 2017, with both imports and exports increasing, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

Last year, the former Soviet republic exported goods worth 2.42 billion US dollars - 18.6 per cent more than in 2016.

The Romanian Border Police in 2017 participated in 13 joint operations and a pilot project organised under the aegis of the FRONTEX European Border and Coast Guard Agency, having deployed 370 border guards and four sea-going boats, according to the 2017 activity report released by head of the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) Ioan Buda on Thursday.

There are more than 1,600 Romanian companies doing business in the Republic of Moldova and in the year of the Centennial we hope energy projects like the Iasi - Ungheni - Chisinau gas pipeline pick up speed, ambassador of the Republic of Moldova Mihai Gribincea told a conference organized on Thursday on the occasion of the listing of the Purcari Wineries on the regulated market of the Bucharest