Ukrainians in Moldova, Moldovans in Ukraine

The Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science Institute of the Moldovan Science Academy, in partnership with the Ukrainian Embassy to Moldova and the Prosvita – Taras Shevchenko Society from Moldova have organized the first international scientific-practical conference titled “Ukrainians in Moldova, Moldovans in Ukraine: ethno-social processes,” Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Ion Rusandu, the director of the Institute, the event pursues to elucidate, through the prism of history and contemporaneity, the aspects of the inter-cultural dialog, the ethnic, social and demographic processes in the contemporary society, the ways of ethnic and cultural development in the wake of the formation of the civic unity. The Ukrainian ambassador to Moldova, Serhei Pirozhkov, has underlined the importance of updating the inter-cultural dialog in the time of transition, which brings important changes in terms of society, demographics, politics, economy. The ambassador has highlighted the Ukrainians' contribution in asserting the Moldavian statehood both in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Era. Galina Rogovaya, the president of the Moldovan Ukrainians' association Prosvita – Taras Shevchenko has said she expects the conference to define the issues coped with by the two ethnic minorities in terms of similarities and differences, and later to identify methods to solve them. According to the 2003 census, there are some 320,000 Ukrainians living in Moldova, that is 8.5% of the population. The number of Romanian speakers in Ukraine is estimated at some 200,000.