The Ambassador of the Italian Republic to the Republic of Moldova Valeria Biagiotti, who is completing her duties in Moldova, said the bilateral relations during the four years developed a lot, except for the last year, which generated many difficulties, including in the Moldovan-Italian relations. The intensification of relations is the merit of the embassy and also of the authorities. This fact also came as a spontaneous development related to the expanding integration of the Italian and Moldovan population. The ambassador made such statements in an interview for IPN titled “See you well again, Moldova!”.
Valeria Biagiotti noted the bilateral relations covered many sectors, including the traditional ones and also new ones, namely the environment, civil protection, social sector, the economy, culture and even the cooperation between the carabineer troops of the two states. Consequently, the outcome is positive.
“I would mention two areas where the cooperation produced special satisfaction. Firstly, this is the promotion of studying of the Italian language. During the last few years, we were glad to welcome an Italian lecturer in Chisinau. Owing to this fact, the number of Italian language courses in schools and universities increased. The last event was the launch of the Italian language course at the Technical University of Moldova,” stated the ambassador.
Valeria Biagiotti enumerated a number of the implemented projects, such as the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World and the Italian Design Day. These events enabled to strengthen the relations of cooperation at institutional, university and other levels.
The ambassador admitted that the diplomats also experience dissatisfaction or frustrations in their work. Hers are tied primarily to the last year. Owing to the pandemic, a number of the planned initiatives could not be put into practice. The consular sector is another continuous source of frustrations, especially due to the difficult cases on which she has worked a lot during her mandate – the international kidnapping of children.
According to the diplomat, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the commercial exchanges, reduced mobility and the number of connections. A year ago, Chisinau was connected with many cities in Italy through daily flights, but now the number of flights decreased drastically.
“The pandemic has been an absolutely new situation for everyone, especially for Italy, which was confronted by the virus among the first. A solution was then needed to protect the people, their health and life and to reduce the impact on people’s lives, on the economy. What is important for the Moldovans and for Italians is to think and do our best to limit the spread of the virus. Regrettably, no one is safe. This is why it is important to be responsible,” stated Valeria Biagiotti.
