Moldovan functionaries to learn French

Moldovan public servants will study French during three years in a project called “Project Europe”. A memo on implementing the project was signed Monday by Moldova's Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan and Pierre Andrieu, the French Ambassador to Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Moldovan deputy premier, including Moldova among the beneficiaries is an exception, since “Project Europe” is dedicated only to EU and candidate countries, regardless of their belonging to La Francophonie. “The main goal of this project is to assist Moldova by consolidating the skills of using French by diplomats and public servants. It will enable the functionaries to study EU documents,” he said. According to French ambassador Pierre Andrieu, often the EU documents are first written in French and only after are translated into English, and the translation makes them difficult to be understood.” The project will help translated Moldova's official web pages into French, what is expected to trigger more French investments to Moldova, the French ambassador said. The project was launched in 2002 by France and French speaking communities from Europe to back the countries running as candidate to the EU.