Lithuania and Latvia are committed to assist Moldova in implementation of the European Union Action Plan for Moldova

Lithuania and Latvia are committed to assist Moldova in implementation of the European Union Action Plan for Moldova and in helping the Chisinau government to handle the internal arrangements for this document, said Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan in reviewing on Monday his working visits last week to Vilnius and Riga. Stratan said the Moldovan Foreign Ministry will ask financial supplements in 2005 to open one diplomatic mission for all three Baltic states, as ties with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - former Soviet states and now E.U. members - have been developing fast. The minister observed that the visa regime turns to be a major sensitive issue for the 7,000 Moldovans who live in the Baltic countries. Asked to explain why President Vladimir Voronin signed the joint statement of CIS leaders containing critical remarks about the "state of affairs in the OSCE," the chief diplomat said that the Foreign Ministry in Chisinau had studied the draft statement before the Moscow summit and that the Moldovan chief of state expressed there a separate opinion. Stratan noted that the Moldovan authorities are disappointed over the lack of progress in the Transnistria settlement process, adding that this disappointment may be part of a "stability and security pact for Moldova", which President Voronin intends to propose to the West, to neighbours and Russia. "The OSCE indeed has to focus on the so-called 'frozen' conflicts in the CIS, conflicts which obstruct the social-economic development of former Soviet states where these litigations exist," Stratan stated.