Moldovan president's speech at Diaspora Congress 2025

Dear citizens, dear friends, welcome back home and welcome to the Diaspora Congress!

What happens in August in our country is not just a families’ reunion; it's a gathering of our people. On these days, brothers and sisters, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren meet.

Our settlements fill with people, festivals are organized where we remember and celebrate traditions, savor our Moldovan dishes and enjoy each other's company.

It's become a tradition to see each other at the Diaspora Congress here every August, and I thank you for your participation again. Since the last edition, many things have happened, but the most important is that we can meet here at home, in peace.

The most important thing is to know that our loved ones, who stayed at home, are still safe. And that children can come for vacations with grandparents this year because there is peace in Moldova.

We managed to maintain peace primarily through the external relations we built. In the last four years, we not only put the Republic of Moldova on the world map, but also built strong partnerships and close friendships with countries worldwide. Even though we are a small country, today we have a strong and respected voice. This is also thanks to you, because our communities are appreciated globally in the democratic world. Let's applaud you!

Another important event since we last met in August 2024 year is the referendum from last autumn and the fact that we managed to enshrine in the Constitution of Moldova the objective of joining the European Union. It is a crucial decision that cements our European path. Many of you live in EU member countries and know firsthand the benefits of the EU accession process. But for those who still wonder why Moldova needs the European Union, let's remind them.

First, so that we can maintain peace in our country. The European Union is, first of all, a peace project.

Secondly, the EU is a welfare project. We need more accelerated economic development, and to speed up economic development, we need resources: financial and human. And here we enter a vicious circle, because due to the demographic situation and migration, our human resources are fewer. And when human resources are fewer, we cannot generate enough financial resources. And if we do not manage to generate enough financial resources, we cannot improve living standards quickly enough to stop people from leaving and to bring people back home. We need the support of the European Union, as with EU investments and support for projects in various fields, including improving living standards in our towns and villages, we can speed up this process of improving living conditions. Through this, we can transform things and succeed in convincing more people to stay home, return and thus succeed in achieving much stronger economic development.

Thirdly, we need the European Union to strengthen our democracy; to protect our freedom and sovereignty; to continue reforms, especially in the field of justice; to be better protected in the context of uncertainties and challenges we face globally and regionally - attempts to overturn the world order, climate change, artificial intelligence and many others.

I want to sincerely thank all of you who supported the decision to amend the Constitution at the referendum and urge you to continue helping us combat falsehoods and scare tactics about the European Union.

We have advanced significantly on the path of European integration, but the fight is not yet fully won.

What have we achieved for our fellow citizens abroad in recent times?

We signed a number of social protection agreements. We have a new agreement with Italy. We hope this agreement will help our fellow citizens, who are numerous in Italy.

We managed to sign an agreement with France; there are still some steps to go, but we have a signed agreement. Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Latvia.

We managed to sign agreements on the recognition of driving licenses with France, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and the United Kingdom is yet to come into effect.

We improved the agreements on the recognition of licenses with Italy. We have an agreement with Albania, and we have simplified the process of getting a license with Germany.

We managed to open two consulates: in Chicago and Sacramento. We insisted and succeeded in reducing consular fees. Several trips were organized by officials from the Public Services Agency to help or reach closer to our citizens, so you can process your documents more easily.

On these days, a new service has been launched called, eConsulate for online requests of consular services and submission of necessary documents. Initially, this platform is available for nine countries. It is a pilot process, but later, after we verify how this platform works, we will extend it to all missions.

The government launched the Governmental Return Assistance Service, created at the Diaspora Relations Bureau, and this service works as a one-stop-shop for those who want to return or have returned home and need various information, which is sometimes difficult to get from the basic institutions.

We have a programme dedicated to professionals. People are financially supported to return for short periods to transfer the knowledge and skills they have for the benefit of the state and the public system at home.

Already in its fourth year, young students from abroad can spend the summer or vacation working for public institutions, being remunerated for these internships.

Families who decide to return home continue to benefit from tax exemptions on importing personal goods. There are a few hundred families who have benefited from these tax exemptions. I discussed with many of you at the meetings we had and agreed that we need to improve the law to be more permissive, so that more families can benefit from these exemptions. I hope more families will be encouraged, including by this law, to return home.

In these years, our government colleagues have made more visits to different cities, in order to present investment opportunities at home. Today is also an opportunity to discuss with government colleagues about these investment opportunities. We would be very happy, if those of you who are ready to invest, invest here in Moldova.

We join the SEPA payment system, which will come into effect in a few weeks. This means better conditions, lower payments and shorter terms for the banking transactions you make.

As of January 1, 2026, roaming costs will be eliminated. We are now in the voluntary roaming programme. Starting from January 1, it will become mandatory and with EU member countries. We will no longer pay roaming charges.

Every time we meet with you, you tell me about how important cultural events in the Diaspora are. We have supported more such events, around 37 projects have been funded recently. I know that demand is higher, and at each budget discussion, we insist on an increase in financial resources, and we will continue to do so.

In 2025, theater tours from Moldova were organized, and I was pleased to hear that they were highly requested and a large number of our citizens managed to admire the performances of our theaters.

During this period, we also focused on having more flights and more destinations. And I believe we have more flights compared to four years ago, when it was very difficult. Work continues, and we will try to shorten your way home, so that you can return whenever you can and whenever you miss home.

We will talk more about the internal agenda today. The prime minister, the parliament speaker, ministers and colleagues from agencies will be present.

There is much to say here. In each field, we have started reforms. In some, we have managed to advance more, in others - less.

We have made efforts, and I believe, significant achievements in the energy field, as we have managed to eliminate the dependency on a single gas supplier. We are on the final stretch on the project for completing the high voltage line Chisinau-Vulcanesti, which will also provide us independence in electricity. Besides that, we have two other major projects that will connect us with the European market.

We have significantly increased the capacities for generating renewable energy. The consumption of renewable energy has increased tenfold in the last four years. Right now, very large projects in this field are being discussed.

We have tried to improve the situation in our localities, in towns and villages, through more major programs. One of them is European Village.

Through European Village, we have implemented over 900 projects across the country. I hope those of you who have already managed to go home to your birthplace have seen the results of these projects.

Of course, we implement projects nationally and projects through the Regional Development Fund. Many of these investments are made with external support, especially with the support of the European Union - further proof of why European integration is important to us.

We are making serious investments in education and higher education, as well as in general education.

We are investing in the medical system and in district hospitals and regional hospitals. It is necessary to repair and equip with modern medical equipment. We have made investments of billions of lei, but obviously, there is still much to repair and equip.

We have important projects in the field of the environment. We have the afforestation project, for which we have managed to mobilize substantial resources, resources that will allow us to quickly increase the surfaces and have much more comprehensive activities.

Another important project is the waste management project. In many of the discussions I have with our citizens abroad, I am asked what you are doing for environmental protection, what you are doing for waste management. And I want to reconfirm here that we have a large project at the pilot stage, being piloted in three districts, after which it will be expanded. This issue is a priority for us, because we want a healthy society, to take care of the soil and water quality.

We have also made investments in the field of culture. We have increased these investments. It is not enough; we need more, but we have made these investments based on our realities, from the capacities the economy has to generate these resources. And, obviously, considering the needs in all fields.

And, of course, justice reform, where things have happened slower than we wanted. But, as we see, the first signs emerge that the system is alive, that the system is starting to move. It is necessary to continue supporting these reforms and not allow thieves to regain power, to interfere again in the justice system, and to return to corruption cases that have rocked our country for many years.

Coming back to the subject and the most important element of this event, namely the contribution of our citizens abroad. And I want to remind and reiterate that the Diaspora is a strategic actor for the present and the future of Moldova, and the partnership between the state and the Diaspora is based on trust, mutual respect, and transparency.

In recent years, the Diaspora has played a crucial role in supporting democratic processes in the country, especially through active participation in national elections. Members of the Diaspora are not only witnesses, but also active actors in the transformations in Moldova. In recent years, you have shown by massive participation in elections that you care, that your voice matters, and that the future of Moldova is also your future.

In this electoral year, unfortunately, the democratic processes in the country are again massively and brutally disrupted by forces that want to keep Moldova in a gray area and use it at their will. Moldova continues to resist these interferences and intrusions with democratic tools. Moldova's success is not only in the interest of the country, but it is also essential for European stability and security at large.

More recently, we know of unprecedented external pressures from hostile forces on the Diaspora. We have information about attempts to bribe voters from the Diaspora and, we also notice a substantial increase in the activism of some inauthentic accounts in Moldovan Diaspora media, typical of a coordinated social media influence campaign with anti-EU messages, against the reforms and policies implemented in recent years and against Moldova. It is clear that this phenomenon will expand, especially in the coming weeks.

In this context, now more than ever in our state's history, we must be vigilant, united, defend our sovereignty, democracy, freedom and European choice. As elections near, we once again hear voices saying that the Diaspora should not decide the country's future. For those who do not wish us good, the Diaspora is a mass of people who must be deprived of the right to vote, who can be manipulated, who can be torn away from the country.

They do not understand that, behind the word Diaspora, there are mothers and fathers who had to leave far from their children for the sake of those children; there are daughters and sons who had to leave far from their parents to take care of them.

They do not understand what it means to be thousands of kilometers away and yearn for the courtyard of the parental home, for the holidays once spent alongside relatives. They do not understand what our people feel when they cannot be here, in Moldova, on Easter, Whitsuntide, Maundy Thursday, or Christmas.

They do not understand that, behind the word Diaspora, there is a mountain of sacrifices and devotion to loved ones, an unstaunched longing for the native places, and hopes for a better future. We were all born in Moldova and carry Moldova in our hearts wherever we are.

Dear friends, dear fellow citizens,

Everything we have achieved so far is our common result, of all, of those at home and those who have left Moldova, because we took our fate in our hands, we were wise and we remained united.

The involvement and contribution of the Diaspora in all the country's development processes is increasingly felt and appreciated. We will continue to succeed, if we continue to stay together and if we continue to see clearly and pursue our national interest with determination.

Thank you!