The presidents of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia vowed to work together towards European integration on July 19.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited Georgia for a diplomatic summit. Together with Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili, they met with European Council head Charles Michel to jointly push for EU membership.
Michel called the meeting an “important milestone.”
All three countries have endured attacks by Russia, which has sought to prevent countries in its sphere of influence from moving towards the West.
The three leaders signed the Batumi Summit Declaration, a document reiterating the countries’ pledge “to work together for the peaceful, democratic and prosperous European future.”
Zelensky and Sandu also discussed the first steps towards trade and economic cooperation between their countries during the visit.
The leaders said cooperation would entail energy and infrastructure projects.
“A successful realization of similar bilateral and multilateral projects has to become an important step in the direction of strengthening the diversification and energetic independence of both countries,” Zelensky said.
The presidents paid special attention to the development of transport between Ukraine and Moldova and agreed to speed up implementation of a flagship project — the construction of a border bridge over the Dniester River near the settlements of Yampil and Koseuts.
Previously in January 2021, deputy head of the President’s Office Ihor Zhovkva said that Ukraine will finance a bridge across Dniester that will become a part of a new highway between Kyiv and Chisinau.
Zelensky congratulated Sandu on her party’s recent win in Moldova’s parliamentary elections and wished her luck on the formation of an effective government.
He also briefed Sandu on the main tasks of the diplomatic initiative Crimean Platform, which aims to bring global attention to Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Moldovan president was invited to the platform’s launch on the eve of the upcoming celebration of Ukraine’s 30th anniversary of independence on August 24, 2021.
