Brussels, 15/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, repeated that the EU was prepared to provide additional technical and financial aid to Moldova in view of resolving the Transnistria conflict. At the end of a meeting with the Moldavian president, Vladimir Voronine, on 14 January in Brussels, Mr Barroso informed the press that “the EU is already strongly engaged in the settlement efforts on this conflict, but we are ready to further step up our involvement”. Mr Barroso affirmed that the EU supports Mr Voronine's recent proposals to promote confidence building measures and that “we are ready to provide expert advice and appropriate financial support for their implementation”. The Commission president also welcome the “important progress” Moldova had made to implement the action plan agreed with the Commission in neighbourhood policy. Mr Barroso said, however, that a lot of work still needed to be done, particularly with regard to human rights, freedom of the press, legal reform and the fight against corruption. (H.B.)