STARTING WITH THE THIRD QUARTER,  Băsescu hopes the contraction of the economy will slow down

• The president is asking for the support of the Czech Republic in including the Republic of Moldova in the category of the countries in Western Balkans concerning the European integration perspective

Cătălin Deacu

Romanian President Traian Băsescu, will be making an official visit in the 15-16 July period in the Czech Republic, in order to discuss the strengthening of the ties between the two countries and current political and economic issues.

The agenda of the Romanian head of the state includes the economic and financial crisis, the situation in the Republic of Moldova, and the new challenges of the Lisbon treaty.

According to a press release by the Administration of the Presidency, the Romanian president gave his Czech peer a full debriefing on the situation in the Republic of Moldova, and on the state of bilateral relations between Romania and Moldova.

"In this respect, we have informed the President that regardless of how the relations between Bucharest and Chi inău are going at the moment, Romania fully supports the Republic of Moldova in its efforts to access the European Union and in this respect we have asked the Czech President to consider supporting Romania"s initiative of having the Republic of Moldova included in the group of Western Balkan countries, from the point of view of their accession chances", Traian Băsescu said.

Also, from an economic point of view, even though we have found major similarities when it comes to the causes that generate economic difficulties, Băsescu told his Czech peer that Romania has gone through two consecutive quarters of negative growth and he said he hopes that, starting with the third quarter, the negative economic growth would slow down.

On a different note, Băsescu mentioned that he also discussed security issues: "We wish to know where the Czech Republic stands on the matter of the development of the anti-missile defense system, and I will add that Romania is a powerful supporter of the approach of the Czech and Polish governments on the matter".

According to the presidential administration, another issue discussed was the Danube and Romania"s opinion that the former has to become an avenue that together with the Rhine, would connect the Black Sea with the North Sea.