Moldova is the country most affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Maia Sandu said during a press briefing with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after a meeting between the two officials in Chisinau, IPN reports.
The Moldovan president said that the businesses cannot use Ukrainian ports for export-import operations, as well as the Eastern markets, while the people face significant food, fuel and energy price increases. “We are going through a complicated period and we appreciate the support we get from our European partners”, said Maia Sandu.
Emphasizing that this is the first visit of a Spanish prime minister in the more than 30 years of Moldova’s independence and in 30 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, Maia Sandu mentioned that she discussed “the bilateral agenda, the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the situation in the region”.
Speaking about cooperation with Spain, she declared that “we want to develop much deeper relations (…) We are also interested in attracting Spanish investment to our country. We would like to establish a partnership with the Spanish Development Agency to carry out modernization projects in our country. We want to borrow the Spanish practices on water resources and waste management”, added the president.
For his part, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared that he wants to convey “a strong message of support” to the Republic of Moldova in the context of the crisis in the region. The Spanish government is ready to support the Republic of Moldova in any way it can to overcome this crisis. The official announced that his country provided the Republic of Moldova with 30 tons of humanitarian aid and 20 million euros in the context of the refugee crisis. At the same time, Spain is ready to take in 2,000 Ukrainian refugees from the Republic of Moldova.
Spain will open a diplomatic office in Chisinau, the Spanish prime minister also announced.
