OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2011. Moldova has fulfilled the commitments taken so far to start the talks on the free trade with the European Union. The Moldovan government presented to the European Commission the second progress report on implementing the Commission's recommendations to create a free and comprehensive free trade area between Moldova and the EU, called also free trade agreement.

On 20 June, the European Union Council empowered the European Commission to start the negotiations with Moldova on the free trade agreement. At a today's news conference, Deputy Economics Minister Octavian Calmic said: "The talks of this kind, led by the countries from the Western Balkans, lasted about four years; yet while taking into account the existence of the autonomous trade preferences regime, Moldova is likely to end the negotiations in 2012." The deputy minister stressed that the talks on the free trade agreement could start till late 2011.

The report contains the progress made by the Moldovan government while implementing the European Commission's recommendations in 13 fields, among which: infrastructure's quality, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, facilitating the trade and customs administration, intellectual property, public acquisitions and competition.

As many as 144 national standards in the infrastructure quality area were cancelled, as they ran counter to the European norms. The government worked out studies and action plans necessary to quickly settle the problems in the fields agreed upon with the European Commission.

Octavian Calmic said the Economics Ministry has fulfilled its commitments regarding the elaboration of the draft legislative documents agreed upon with the EU, and they are at different phases of approval by the government and the parliament. The free trade accord is part of the future Agreement on Association between Moldova and the European Union.