You're reading: EU set to launch free trade zone talks with Moldova

CHISINAU - The European Union has officially announced that it is preparing to start negotiations to form a free trade zone with Moldova and Georgia, the Moldovan Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry said in a press release, received by Interfax on Tuesday.

"The aim of this zone is to step up economic growth and investment in Eastern Europe’s partner-states. A wide range of economic and trade issues will be raised during the talks in order to achieve closer integration with the EU," the ministry said.

"The free trade zone is intended to help diversify and strengthen exports from our country and to grant Moldova access to the European market, which has 500 million consumers," it said.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat thanked the ambassadors of EU countries and the United States accredited in Chisinau for recent measures that paved the way for the start of free trade zone talks.

Filat said he would visit Brussels on December 12 to sign an official agreement launching these negotiations.