On 13 February, Ambassador Peter Michalko, Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova introduced the newly appointed Head of the EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) Slawomir Pichor to the new Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Cristina Lesnic. The EU Ambassador highlighted the Mission’s technical and advisory role in promoting confidence building measures between the two banks of the Nistru River. The Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister appreciated the achievements obtained from the productive cooperation of the Moldovan authorities with the EUBAM, specifying the need to strengthen the partnership, the qualitative implementation of the objectives and establishing a secure and prosperous area at the eastern border of the European Union.

Considering that contributing to Transnistria-related confidence building measures is one of the three main objectives in EUBAM’s new mandate, Mr. Pichor underlined that “ever since the Mission’s launch in 2005, supporting the settlement process of the Transnistrian issue has been one of the fundamental vectors of EUBAM’s activity. This is how it will remain throughout EUBAM 12, when further contributing to confidence building efforts will be the common thread tying up all Mission’s activities”.