Mr.Victor Catan, Minister of Internal Affairs, participated at the Ministerial Meeting of Salzburg Forum.

Mr.Victor Catan, Minister of Internal Affairs, participated in the period of 13th - 15th May 2010, at the Ministerial Meeting of Salzburg Forum, which was held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The participation in the mentioned event organized by the Ministry of Interior of Slovakia, is a premiere for Moldova in the context of the reforms launched within MIA.

Topics addressed at the meeting focused on assessing the Forum activities within the Slovak presidency, proposals and initiatives of the Member States of the Forum, preparing of Romania and Bulgaria to join the Schengen area.

Additional to the working agenda, on May 13th 2010, Mr. Victor Catan, Minister of Interior of the Republic of Moldova, had bilateral meeting with Mr. Robert Kalinak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the Slovak Republic. Meeting of the two officials was held on the occasion of signing of intergovernmental Protocol of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the European Community on the readmission of persons residing without authorization, signed in Brussels on October 10, 2007.

Also, the Moldovan delegation had bilateral meetings with Ministers of Interior of Austria, Poland and Romania, where they discussed about the EU countries support for the implementation of EU conditions in the context of the liberalization of visa regime for Moldovan citizens; political support of the Republic of Moldova in order to launch a dialogue on visa liberalization, planed to have place on 15th of June 2010, in the frames of Cooperation Council Moldova-EU in Luxemburg; support in the reform of MIA in line with European standards (training, technical assistance, etc.) and future encouraging of the activities undertaken in order to implement the provisions of the Mobility Partnership, etc.

Salzburg Forum, based on an Austrian initiative launched in 2000, provides a platform for dialogue and multilateral cooperation on internal security matters. Its Member States are Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Croatia has an observer status within the Salzburg Forum.

The main idea of the founding states of Salzburg Forum in 2000 was to support the integration of Eastern European neighbors of Austria and facilitate their efforts to join the EU. Meanwhile, all the Salzburg Forum states became EU members, realizing an exchange of common security interests and standards.