Poland to support Moldova in managing flow of refugees

Chisinau, 21 March /MOLDPRES/ - Poland supports Moldova’s European aspirations and will provide the country with support in the process of managing the flow of refugees. The Polish government ruled to provide a no-interest loan. President of Poland Andrzej Duda today made statements to this effect at a joint news conference with President Maia Sandu.   

In her speech, the Moldovan head of state said that, starting from 2021, Moldova and Poland had managed to re-launch the relation of good cooperation and friendship. ‘’I appreciate the open dialogue which we have at the level of the heads of state, as well as the cooperation between the governments. Moldova benefits from development assistance through the Polish Solidarity Fund and on the Polish Aid platform, which implements projects in diverse fields in Moldova, such as local development and agriculture. We appreciate a lot this support. Unfortunately, the reality makes you visit to take place in a complicated period for Ukraine, for us, for the region and for the entire Europe. Moldova firmly condemned the war against Ukraine, from the very first day; we called for the reestablishment of peace equally firmly,’’ Maia Sandu said.      

The Moldovan president also said that, in almost one month of war, more than 360,000 people from Ukraine had entered Moldova. Almost 100,000 of them are in continuation in Moldova and most of them are hosted by people in their homes. ‘’You know well, Mr. President, what the management of a big crisis of refugees means. Poland now hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees – more than two million people. Just as in our case, many of them remain in the country, at placement centres, in home of Poles. Moldova and Poland host a large number of refugees as compared to the population. Both we and you know that it is not easy; yet, we choose to do our duty of good neighbours, the duty of people,’’ Sandu said.    

The Moldovan president asked her Polish counterpart to request, along with the EU member states, the opening of markets for Moldovan products, which cannot be exported to the East because of the war.   

The president of Poland praised the efforts of the authorities and the citizens to help the refugees and assured Maia Sandu that his country would back Moldova’s European integration process. Andrzej Duda noted that Poland, which faces an unprecedented situation, would come up with a loan for Chisinau.