Remarks by President Donald Tusk following his meeting with Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti

I have come to the Republic of Moldova to show that it is a key associated partner of the European Union. You can count on my support.

During today's meeting with President Timofti, we discussed the implementation of the Association Agreement, which will benefit all Moldovans. The significant increase in our bilateral trade in 2014 is a sign that we are moving in the right direction.

At the same time, more needs to be done to advance reforms in a way that makes a real change. Also for ordinary citizens. We discussed the need to reform the justice system and fight corruption as two priority areas in this respect.

We also agreed on the need to pursue media and financial sector reforms and to make sure that the banking crisis gets a rigorous follow-up. This is needed to restore confidence of business and donors but more importantly to restore people's trust.

I have seen in my own country that it is worth taking on the hardships of reforms. Right now Moldova is facing hardship both for domestic reasons and for reasons of regional instability and uncertainty. We want to assist Moldova in building resilience to the outside and building trust at home, an issue we will discuss further at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga next month.

Visa liberalisation last year has already shown concrete benefits of the EU´s and Moldova´s close cooperation to all the people of Moldova.

Together with President Timofti we agreed to continue the intense cooperation between the EU and the Republic of Moldova. The EU will remain a strong friend and supporter of Moldova. Thank you!