Moldovan foreign affairs minister conveys message on occasion of Moldova's Diplomacy Day

Chisinau, 17 January /MOLDPRES/ - The Professional Day of Diplomat is marked in Moldova on 17 January. On the occasion of the Diplomacy Day, Deputy PM, Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu conveyed a message to the diplomatic and consular corps of Moldova, the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry’s (MAEIE) press service has reported.     

The message reads:

„From Tokyo or Beijing, to the  Middle East, to the European countries and up to beyond the Atlantic Ocean, in Washington and Ottawa, Moldova’s diplomacy is the team on which we rely for the promotion of our country’s interests.  

We work 24 hours, seven days per week, 365 days out of 365 days, in order to ensure the freedom of our country, the prosperity of our country, peace in our country and in order to provide with quality services our citizens, our Diaspora, our business people and to ensure a better future for the fellow countrymen.

Last year, when the war returned to Europe, we edified strong external partnerships which allowed us pursue these goals.  Along with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, Speaker Igor Grosu and the entire governance team, we achieve concrete results for our citizens, through which we rely on the consolidation of the role and place of Moldova in the united Europe.    

Our absolute priority is the accession to the European Union. Last year was a historical one, a year when we got the status of country candidate for accession to EU. We wanted this for a long time and so, starting from 2022, we entered a new phase of our history. It is obvious that this implies that we have a lot of work to do; yet, this is already a structured job, which we will do along with EU.   

Last year, we managed to strengthen our strategic partnerships with a lot of countries, as the consolidation of the support for Moldova is fundamental for us. On MAEIE’s line alone, we managed to organize 87 meetings with counterparts from 44 states. We managed to ensure the entrance into force of 56 treaties; 71 new treaties were signed at the level of state, government and with international organizations. We were special guests at the G7 summit and at the NATO meeting.    

Our relation with Romania remains central and fundamental for our future. You know well that we have invested much effort for developing this relation and to make sure that Romania will represent our anchor in Europe in the long run as well. You know well that we developed our partnerships including through the launch of the Moldova Support Platform, initiated and co-chaired by Germany, France and Romania, and in which over 40 countries and organizations participate.  

Mrs. prime minister noted that, this year, we will organize the most important summit ever held on the territory of our country - the Summit of the European Political Community (CPE). This is the occasion to consolidate our place in Europe and we want, through the organization of this summit, to enhance our growing image internationally. At the same time, through the continuous development of the sectoral diplomacies, we try to make sure that our colleagues of the government have maximal access to foreign assistance, to external partnerships, as well as to Moldova’s contribution to the global and regional stability.     

In this respect, it will be further quite important that we implement all goals in the diplomacy for security and defence. We pursue the goal of strengthening the security of our state.  

Obviously, we will continue the diplomacy of solidarity for the refugees from Ukraine; we will continue the active economic diplomacy, in order to open new markets, to increase the exports, to increase the trade, which will represent a more stable and wider basis for our economy.    

We will continue also our anticorruption diplomacy, through which we will do our utmost, so that these thieves who robbed our citizens to be sanctions and certainly, this fact will continue to be part of our diplomatic efforts. The cultural diplomacy is equally important, both to maintain our relation with the Diaspora and to promote, in continuation, our country’s image abroad. You know well that, last year, we achieved, along with Romania, important success through the recognition of the national shirt as part of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage.     

We continue to strengthen the services for the Diaspora. Last year, we had a record number of consular actions – 143,000; we continue also the digitalization of the consular services; we launched the portal of schedulings for 13 diplomatic missions and we are to extend this portal for all diplomatic missions.

For the ongoing year, we will have a lot of work to do; I have mentioned the CPE summit, but our absolute priority is the accession to EU. You know well that we work together to respond to an instruction by the prime minister, after which a plan on speeding our process of accession to EU will be worked out. Unfortunately, we have lost more years in terms of rapprochement with EU; we are in the position to compensate those losses of time, that insufficiency of political attention given to the process of joining the EU. In the next months, just as so far, we will have very much work to do with our colleagues of the government. This being said, I want to thank for everything which was done in 2022.    

This year, we will preserve the same dynamic for a more democratic, more prosperous and more European Moldova. This is the stake for 2023.

Congratulations to Moldova’s Diplomacy! Congratulations to each Man who continues to make the diplomatic system stronger and our country – more resilient!’’ the Moldovan diplomacy head, Nicu Popescu, added.  

Photo: MAEIE