Moldova’s greatest grief is that good people have left and continue to leave the country. Today, more than ever, Moldova needs its diaspora to support the complicated activity of restarting the economic and democratic processes in the country, to bring home the living standards of countries where they have stayed. Such opinions have been expressed during the Diaspora Days opening ceremony, IPN reports.
President Igor Dodon said that according to statistics each year the Moldovan citizens of over one million working abroad send home more than $1.5 billion dollars. Diaspora transfers home ten times more money than all foreign investors in Moldova.
Prime Minister Maia Sandu says the Government's priority is to ensure voting conditions for the diaspora, and one such effort will be to introduce postal vote. Maia Sandu says she understood this while running in a diaspora constituency in the February 24 elections. As for the goal of returning home, Maia Sandu says that it is difficult to achieve now.
Nicu Popescu, who returned to Moldova from France two months ago to become Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, says that the difficult access to consular services impacts mostly Moldovans from diaspora. Since he took office, Nicu Popescu says he has started to work on reducing the processing times for issuing passports and registrar office documents at diplomatic missions. "We are working with the Public Services Agency and we hope that in a few months we will be able to reduce practically halve the wait times," the minister said.
Vadim Brînzan, Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, came home after a 20-year stay in the United States of America. The minister says that almost ¾ of the country's Gross Domestic Product is due to diaspora remittances. But, according to him, this development model is unsustainable. "To develop and become a European country, with adequate wages, we must create conditions for those who are leaving to return home, to be able to develop a business, bringing with them the gained experience," said the minister.
The days of August 16 and 17 are dedicated to the Moldovan diaspora. In this regard, the Government organizes a series of events under the aegis of "Diaspora Day", including exhibitions, conferences and socializing activities. The event is organized annually in August.