31 Jul 2019 10:09

Moldovan president calls for soonest signing of social guarantees agreement with Russia

CHISINAU. July 31 (Interfax) - Moldovan President Igor Dodon called for the soonest signing of a social guarantees agreement with Russia during his Q&A session on the Odnoklassniki website on Tuesday night.

"We have been working on this document for a long time. I think we should expedite the signing. An agreement on social guarantees could be signed with Russia during a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Moscow on September 17-18," Dodon said.

Relevant talks ended several weeks ago, he said.

"The document must be signed. Hundreds of thousands of our citizens are working in Russia. They are looking forward to this document," Dodon said.

The agreement envisages crediting of work record in either country to retirement plans of Moldovan citizens, he said.

"This is very important, considering that about a million citizens of ours are staying abroad. This concerns large numbers of our citizens. We have signed such agreements with a number of countries and are preparing to sign more," Dodon said.

"The trend of a major boost of relations with Russia emerged" after the change of administration in Moldova, Dodon said. Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicolae Popescu will visit Moscow in early September, and an official visit of Moldovan Prime Minister Maia Sandu to Russia at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will follow, he said.