The Republic of Moldova is among The Economist’s countries of the year for 2021. This fact was remarked in social media by the former head of the Moldovan diplomatic service Ion Botnaru, currently director general of a division of the UN Secretariat, IPN reports.

The British experts’ choice can be due to the developments related to the election of the pro-European President Maia Sandu, who is devoted to the fight against corruption, and to the formation of a PAS majority in Parliament. In connection with Moldova’s prominence on the international arena, Ion Botnaru said the British intuited already the waves of a whole political process in our country. The experienced diplomat believes things are due to Moldova’s move on from “the place where Russian money was laundered” and urged to keep away from the ”sinks” of the former metropolis the coming year.

Italy is the country of the year 2021. Each year The Economist picks a “country of the year”. The award goes not to the biggest, the richest or the happiest, but to the one that in its view improved the most in 2021. Past winners have included Uzbekistan (for abolishing slavery), Colombia (for making peace) and Tunisia (for embracing democracy).

According to the publication, this year was a difficult one. Covid-19 continued to spread misery, as brilliantly designed vaccines were unevenly distributed and new variants such as Omicron emerged. In many countries civil liberties and democratic norms were eroded. Russia’s main opposition leader was jailed. Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Civil wars gripped Ethiopia and Myanmar. Yet amid the gloom, a few countries shone, including Moldova.

Commenting on Italy’s position in this year’s rankings, Ion Botnaru said ironically that this performance is not due to the fact that its national football team won the title of European champion or because the country won the Eurovision Song Contest as everything is related to the political performance of the government...