| 28 January 2010 The agreement on small-distance cross-border movement is in force, but technical conditions should be achieved. We have committed to meet all the technical conditions for the functioning and implementation of this act till 31 March, Romanian President Traian Basescu said today during his 27-28 January official visit to Moldova. Basescu said that the agreement on small-distance cross-border movement was promulgated. He stressed that the technical preparation takes time, as the permits should be processed and the Romanian consulates from Balti and Cahul should be opened. Referring to the procedure of winning back the Romanian citizenship, President Basescu said that, at a meeting on 29 January, the Romanian government will urgently adopt a decision to set up a special agency for granting the citizenship. The new structure will have its headquarters in Bucharest, with branches in Iasi, Galati, Suceava, Cluj and Timisoara, and Moldovans applying for Romanian passports will be able to submit their documents there. Basescu said that, till 30 June 2010, all files submitted by Moldovan citizens wishing to get the Romanian citizenship starting from the 1990s, will be processed and the citizenship will be granted. The Romanian president stressed that about 2,400 Moldovan citizens benefited from this right by 2009, when the legislation on citizenship was amended. As many as 20,000 files were sent last year, of these 14,000 people have already got the Romanian citizenship after taking the oath. "We hope that, after the new agency is created, the files will be processed swifter and all the people who applied for the Romanian citizenship will get it," Traian Basescu said.
| 
