CHISNAU — Moldova is on track to sign agreements on association and free trade with the European Union next year, visiting European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday.
"If Moldova goes on with the reforms and achievements it has demonstrated so far in the Eastern Partnership program, your country may count on signing three important documents with the EU by the end of 2013," Barroso said through an interpreter after meeting Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat in Chisinau.
"(There are agreements) on establishing an EU-Moldova free trade area, on Moldova's association with the EU, on the second phase in the action plan on visa liberalization," Barroso said.
Moldova, one of the poorest nations in Europe, with an average monthly wage of about $280, relies heavily on exports of goods, including wine, to the EU and remittances from its citizens working abroad, many of whom are in the EU.
(Reuters)
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