Call center to provide assistance for Moldovans abroad

The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs today launched a call center primarily devised to assist Moldovan nationals seeking assistance, including consular services, while being abroad, Info-Prim Neo reports. Attending the launching ceremony, Foreign Minister Iurie Leanca said the center was a long-awaited facility. “We learned from our visits abroad, from our meetings with the Moldovan diaspora that there has been little to no communication between the state and our citizens living or working abroad (...) The extensive migration of our compatriots obliges us to open this center to help them solve consular issues”, said Leanca. The Center will provide competent and quick answers to any consular-related question. While not being able to solve a problem directly, the operators at the center will provide the necessary assistance to find the best solution. In special cases, the operators will forward the call to an officer of the Consular Affairs Department. The call center is situated on 80 Alexei Mateevici Street in Chisinau, working Monday to Friday, from 8:00 to 17:00. National calls at 080090990 are free of charge. International calls at +373 22 690990 are charged at the standard rates of the relevant country. Inquiries are also accepted by email at callcenter@mfa.md. Though Norway contributed significantly to the opening of the Center, the Norwegian kingdom doesn't have a facility of this kind. Attending the ceremony, Norwegian State Secretary Elisabeth Walaas explained that Moldova needs such a center more than her country does. “Unfortunately, a great number of Moldovan citizens are currently abroad. To help them feel safe there and avoid great costs for obtaining a document, and also to enhance communication with the authorities at home, we thought this should be a priority and decided to establish it in Moldova first. In Norway we are still working on this project”, said Elisabeth Walaas. The Call Center was established as part of the project “Building Institutional Capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration”, implemented by UNDP Moldova, with the financial support of Norway's Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA).