The ministers of foreign affairs of Moldova and Italy signed a Declaration for the Assistance of Ukrainian Refugees. Being in Chisinau on a visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic Luigi Di Maio reiterated Italy’s firm support for the Government of the Republic of Moldova and expressed solidarity with the Moldovan authorities and citizens, IPN reports.
“During this period of three decades, our countries established very close ties, a strategic friendly relationship based on common respect for the European values. I wish these discussions and this visit occurred in times of peace, but the whole continent, our region now go through tragic moments for our history. Evidently, the discussions we had referred to this difficult regional context. I reiterated our support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and pleaded for an immediate halt to the Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, stated in a news conference held jointly with his Italian counterpart after the signing of the Declaration.
He approved of Italy’s solidarity with the Republic of Moldova, which has to deal with an immense wave of refugees. Over 300,000 refugees entered Moldova since the start of the war in Ukraine and more than 100,000 of these stopped here. This is a high figure that represents 4% of Moldova’s population. “In the management of this humanitarian crisis, we indeed need support and feel this support, including on the part of Italy and other EU member states,” said Nicu Popescu, noting the signed Declaration expresses the determination to work together on medical, psychological and legal assistance for refugees.
He also said that they disused new possibilities of cooperation in the economic sector and strengthening of business partnerships. Italy is one of the most important commercial partners of Moldova. Trade between the two states comes to about €600 million. “We hope Italy will continue to support our European aspirations as it has done up to now. We are a European country with European society, European history European language and our place is in the European Union,” said the minister, referring to the application for EU membership that was recently submitted by Moldova.
Luigi Di Maio said that Italy wants to help Moldova in a structured way. “It’s a pleasure for me to announcer that through the Migration Fund of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we developed a project to the value of €10 million together with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which centers on the needs of minors and women. The project is aimed at strengthening the asylum system in the Republic of Moldova, training local operators and improving assistance and border registration capacities,” stated the Italian minister. ”Together with Minister Popescu, we could ascertain profound harmony as to the firm condemnation of the extremely grave and unjustified aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the expression of profound solidarity and support for the Ukrainian people and institutions.”
In another development, Luigi Di Maio reminded that this year it has been 30 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Italy and the Republic of Moldova. “Our bilateral relations are excellent both at economic and political levels. We want to strengthen them further. We agree with the necessity of extending the bilateral political dialogue and therefore invited Minister Popescu to pay a visit to Rome by the end of this year,” said the Italian official.
