Moldova's Prime Minister Ion Chicu said he discussed with the officials in Moscow on the gas price reduction, increasing the number of authorisations for Moldovan carriers and extending the spectrum of goods exported to Russia without taxes. The statement was made after his visit to Russia on November 20. 

“The main result is that we have restored the normal, pragmatic and mutually advantageous dialogue with one of the main economic partners of Moldova. It is precisely on the basis of this dialogue that we shall be able to explore further the possibilities offered by this collaboration”, stated Ion Chicu.

According to him, the Russian side assured that it would make efforts that the new Government to promote reforms, including economic ones.

"Russia is also interested in our progress on justice reform, or serious private investment projects are to be launched in Moldova in perspectives and the functioning of justice depends on the desire of Russian companies to invest in Moldova," said PM.

Also, it has been launched the process of liberalizing foreign trade in the medium term in Moscow, so that all exports of Moldova and Russia would be carried out without customs duties, writes Moldpres. 

"Until then, we have obtained the initial agreement of Russian authorities to expand the list of categories of goods that are exported to Russian market without customs duties from 05 to 10 categories. This will cover almost 70 per cent of the list of products exported to Russian market,” specified Chicu.

PM has also added that during the talks, it was obtained the initial agreement to extend the possibility of exports of Moldovan products to Russian market after 01 January 2020 with no customs duties and expand the number of Moldovan companies authorized to export to the Russian market.

Regarding the issue of international carriers that could not operate on the Russian market due to insufficient transport authorizations, Ion Chicu has announced that Russian side will offer in the coming days a thousand authorizations so that by the end of the year the exports of products from Moldova on Russian market to be unlocked.

As a result of talks, it has been obtained the major agreement of the Russian side to open a credit line of about $500 million, money that will be directed exclusively for investment projects.

The parties have also agreed to launch preparatory actions upon implementation of initiative to use ammunition stored in Cobasna.

"On it, we shall get more details from Russian side on its mechanism in upcoming period, which is to be a transparent one, including for all partners of Moldova," rounded up Chicu.

A delegation from Moldova, led by PM Ion Chicu, paid a working visit to Russia on Wednesday.