Moldova withdraws its rep from CIS Executive Committee

CHISINAU. March 22 (Interfax) - The government of Moldova has made a decision at a meeting to withdraw its representative from the executive bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the press service for the government told Interfax on Wednesday.

According to a decree of the government, Teodor Iovu has been recalled from the post of a deputy director of the CIS Executive Committee and director of the department of economic cooperation. The decision will enter into effect on April 14. Iovu was appointed to this position in December 2020.

Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu, for his part, said at the meeting that "the decision was made on the basis of provisions of the agreement on the allocation of quotas for appointment and rotation of deputy chairpersons of the CIS Executive Committee."

In early February, the parliament of Moldova recalled its representative in the Secretariat of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. According to the briefing note, "the decision was made following consideration of activities of the permanent representatives of the parliament of Moldova in administrative bodies of interparliamentary organizations."

Also in February, Popescu said that Moldova has started withdrawing from several dozen of agreements signed as part of the CIS. According to Popescu, the country is a party of some 330 CIS agreements, many of which need revisions. Moldova intends to join the European Union, and, therefore, "all objectives of the foreign policy and participation in international organizations will be driven by the European integration."

"Based on that, the withdrawal from the CIS agreements which are not compatible with our goals will continue," Popescu said, adding that Moldova is withdrawing from about 20 agreements signed through the Interior Ministry alone.

President of the Moldovan Parliament Igor Grosu said earlier that the decision as to whether it is appropriate for Moldova to keep participating in the CEC would be made after the end of the events in Ukraine.