OREANDA-NEWS. February 20, 2008. Moldova and Russia will elaborate a new bilateral programme on medium-term economic cooperation till 2020, reported the Official website http://gov.md.

Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev, on a one-day visit to Moscow, has told journalists, following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Viktor Zubkov, that the document will provide for boosting the direct cooperation between economic agents from the two countries. This programme expires in 2008.

The Moldovan premier said that the potential of economic collaboration between the two countries has not been fully turned to account, and the sides declared for promoting coordinated actions to identify and back new mechanisms of strengthening the economic relations.

For his part, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov stressed the need to develop the investment field between the two states, and said that Russia is willing to open a trade house and a branch of a bank in Chisinau in the near future. The Russian premier said that, so far, Russia has invested about 200 million dollars in Moldova.

Viktor Zubkov described as constructive Moldova's cooperation with the Russian company Gazprom, and stressed the company's interest in implementing joint projects of research and extraction of natural deposits in Moldova. In this respect, the two officials agreed to work out a 2008-2009 collaboration programme in the humanitarian field.

Zubkov reiterated Russia's option for the Transnistrian conflict settlement within the present format of negotiations, by observing Moldova's territorial integrity and sovereignty.