Chisinau, December 12 / Agerpres / - U.S. Moldova has proposed signing a Strategic Partnership Agreement, whose text has been drafted and sent to Washington via the U.S. Embassy in Moldova. A statement to this effect was made by Interim President of the Republic, Michael Gimpu, taken Friday after meeting with U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, Ms. Celeste Wallander, Itar-Tass reported Saturday.

The press service of the Moldovan Parliament, Michael Ghimpu noted that this agreement is intended to deepen bilateral political dialogue and trade-economic cooperation and security.

'U.S. play a major role in dialogue with the European Union and Moldova international financial organizations ", said Moldovan President Interim welcoming financial and technical assistance worth 262 million U.S. dollars that were promised for repair works Moldova roads and irrigation systems.

During the meeting, the parties addressed issues related to a possible U.S. government support of military reform in Moldova. These issues will be subject to negotiations in May imposed in January 2010, when planned visit Moldovan Defense Minister Vitaly new Marina in Washington.

Referring to the Transnistrian conflict, Michael thanked the U.S. Ghimpu constant support sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova and has decided to increase the role of U.S. and European Union as mediators in fully-fledged negotiations in the format 'five plus two '- Moldpres news agency reported. Democratization and demilitarization of Transnistria is, in its view, a prerequisite for resolving the conflict. 'Therefore we insist and continue on full and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops in Moldova, in accordance with principles of international law and decisions of the OSCE summit in Istanbul (1999)' - revealed Interim President of the Republic. However, he said, 'We consistently promote confidence building measures between the two banks of the river, the involvement of citizens in the process of democratization and Europeanization of Moldova'.

In turn, Celeste Wallander said the U.S. supports 'pragmatic actions' of the current Moldovan leadership to "achieve democratic change." She said that President Barack Obama Administration supports the current format of negotiations on the Transnistrian issue - 'five plus two "(Moldova, Transnistria, the OSCE, Russia, Ukraine plus the U.S. and EU as observers) - and is willing to support Chisinau in this context, the Russian news agency notes.

Source: AGERPRES / (Lilia Traci)