Moldova and Ukraine Sign Deals to Boost Economic Ties

Officials from Moldova and Ukraine signed two cooperation documents in Kiev on Thursday evening to liberalise ground and air transport between the two countries - part of attempts to boost economic cooperation.

The new agreements will reduce bureaucracy and eliminate authorisations so people and goods can travel more freely between Ukraine and Moldova.

They will also ease the flow of cars and trucks in both directions by tackling issues like queues at customs checkpoints.

They are also intended to create conditions for the development of air transport according to international standards, potentially increasing the number of airlines that operate flights between Moldova and Ukraine.

The Moldovan government said the move was necessary after a boom in bilateral trade with Ukraine in recent years.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that even more trade opportunities lay ahead.

"We have great opportunities in economic cooperation," Groysman wrote on Facebook after meeting his Moldovan counterpart Pavel Filip, the Ukrinform news website reported.

"In 2017, the trade turnover between Ukraine and Moldova rose to $884 million. Moreover, it is quite possible to reach mutual trade turnover totalling $1 billion in the near future," he added.

According to official statistics in Moldova, Moldovan-Ukrainian trade was worth almost $255 million US dollars between January and June 2017, an increased of 30.8 per cent compared to the same period in 2016.

On Thursday evening, Moldova and Ukraine also signed a memorandum of cooperation in the energy field in order to synchronise their national energy systems to work in line with European energy system.

Meanwhile Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed into...