OREANDA-NEWS. June 17, 2011. Prime Minister Vlad Filat today met his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, the government's communications and press relations department has said.

The officials discussed the bilateral cooperation, ways to further develop it, Moldova's EU-integration path, the summit of the Eastern Partnership due in September, as well as other relevant issues.

Filat thanked his counterpart for the constant support that Hungary has been providing to Moldova, referring in particular, to the talks on the liberalization of the visa regime, on the signing of an agreement on free, deep and comprehensive trade between Moldova and the EU, as well as to Moldova's accession to the Strategy for the Danube Region. He noted that Moldova's accession to this strategy had consolidated Moldova's status of a trustworthy partner and expressed hope that this will allow attracting additional funds from the European Union.

The premier asked for the Hungary's support within the framework of the summit of the Eastern Partnership, due in Warsaw in September, stressing that Moldova aims at obtaining a clear prospect as concerns its European integration. In the context, Filat said that Moldova sticks to the meritocracy principle called "more for more".

Filat called on Orban to further back Moldova and to maintain this issue on the agenda of the discussion with EU decision-makers.

Filat mentioned the importance of Hungary's support for Moldova in the negotiations on the liberalization of the visa regime and on the signing of an agreement on free, deep and comprehensive trade with the EU.

Orban said that Hungary is willing to assist Moldova in the accomplishment of its objectives, especially in the EU-integration path.

The Hungarian premier said that although the EU is facing economic difficulties and that its top priorities do not include an eventual extension, Hungary and Poland will further back Moldova and its EU-integration path.

Orban also said that Moldova will benefit from Hungary's support in training Moldovan experts engaged in the negotiations of the Moldovan-EU association agreement. Hungary will also back Moldova in the talks on the liberalization of the visa regime and on the free, deep and comprehensive trade agreement with the EU.