Moldovan state company Energocom has announced a series of tenders to buy natural gas with delivery from the border with Ukraine (Oleksiyivka) or Romania (Ungheni).
The gas purchases are being made for Moldova due to the “exceptional situation,” the company said on its website.
“Following the National Commission for Exceptional Situations of October 13, 2021, the state of alert was announced regarding the natural gas sector. Energocom, a company 100% owned by the State of Moldova, is preparing to purchase natural gas to be supplied at Moldovan border from Ukraine and/or Romania,” the company said.
Tenders will be held for various periods, to begin with short-term gas purchases of 5 million cubic meters and potentially more for the balance of October, Energocom said.
Gas suppliers must have “a proven record of reliable and professional activity (gas supply license in at least one EU/Energy Community country and >0.3 bcm of gas trading in 2020), the company said.
The first tender to purchase 1 mcm of gas was announced on October 23. Prepayment will be issued immediately, but SWIFT transfer to foreign entities can only be carried out on Monday, October 25, Energocom said.
“Considering the emergency situation, the Public Property Agency of Moldova, the sole shareholder of Energocom, will issue a comfort letter to the selected suppliers to confirm that payments will be duly made,” the company said.
The Energy Community Secretariat held a meeting with a delegation from Moldova to discuss problems with gas supplies to the country.
Ukraine will provide assistance to Moldova with gas supplies, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov said.
“We decided to instruct the Cabinet of Ministers to consider this issue. We understand that we can do such assistance to the Republic of Moldova in the near future,” Danilov said at a briefing on Friday following the results of the NSDC meeting.
According to him, Prime Minister of Moldova Natalia Gavrilița has made such a request to the Ukrainian government.
“The Prime Minister of Ukraine received a letter from his colleague with a request to help with gas in order to avoid a difficult situation, which has developed taking into account the blackmail that Gazprom is doing there,” Danilov said.
Later, he said that it would be gas on credit, not for money, and then Moldova would return the supplied resource. According to him, this must be done, since Ukraine and Moldova are united, and there are territories in Ukraine that are supplied with gas from Moldova.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Prime Minister of Moldova Natalia Gavrilitsa signed an intergovernmental protocol on amendments to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
According to the Ukrainian government’s press service, the amendments to the Free Trade Agreement stipulate that the pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin of goods should be applied in trade between Ukraine and Moldova.
“The transition to these rules of origin of goods unites the Ukrainian and Moldovan Association Agreements with the EU into one system. We made such a step with Georgia a year ago. Now we are uniting the trade regimes of all the states of the Associated Trio among ourselves and with the EU,” the prime minister said.
The head of the Ukrainian government said the pan-Euro-Mediterranean cumulation system allows trading in goods that are produced from components that can originate from all countries in this system.
“This protocol is another step towards the withdrawal of the Associated Trio countries from the trade relations of the CIS and the transition to an EU-centered economy,” Shmyhal said.
In turn, the Prime Minister of Moldova said the Protocol confirms the readiness to promote trade relations between the two countries, in particular on the path of European integration.
On August 27, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will pay a visit to Chisinau on the occasion of the Independence Day of Moldova, the press service of the President of the Republic of Moldova said.
According to the information on the department’s website, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda will leave for the Republic of Moldova on Thursday, August 26.
On August 27, Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be in Chisinau.
It is noted that the three heads of state, together with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, will take part in the celebrations on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Republic of Moldova.
After that, several bilateral meetings will take place, as well as a multilateral meeting of the four presidents.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov congratulated Igor Grosu on his election to the post of head of the Parliament of Moldova.
“Today, during a phone conversation, congratulated Speaker of the Parliament of Moldova Igor Grosu on his election to office. The victory of pro-European forces in the elections in Moldova opens up opportunities to intensify relations with Ukraine. We are interested in deepening cooperation with our neighbor,” Razumkov said on Twitter on Monday.
On Thursday, June 24, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, together with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Davide Zalkaliani and acting Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Aureliu Ciocoi will visit the EU institutions in Brussels for the first time with a joint visit in the format of the Associated Trio, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported.
According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry, in the information released Wednesday morning, the heads of the Ukrainian, Georgian and Moldovan diplomacy will present to the European Union a joint strategic vision of the further development of the trilateral format of the Associated Trio.
The key topics of the talks will be the European integration of the three countries, the possibility of further liberalization of trade relations, new promising areas of sectoral cooperation with the EU, in particular in the context of the implementation of the European Green Deal and the digital transition.
The parties will also coordinate their positions on security threats in the region and exchange views on preparations for the Eastern Partnership summit in December 2021.
Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova signed a memorandum on the establishment of the Associated Trio in Kyiv on May 17, 2021. The document underlines the European aspirations of the three associated partners of the EU and their ambitions to become members of the European Union. The Associated Trio is a trilateral format in which Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova coordinate their efforts towards European integration.
