President Maia Sandu last year made 21 working and official visits abroad. Three visits were paid to Romania and by two working visits were made to Ukraine, Switzerland, and the U.S. The head of state also visited Germany, Poland, the UK, Canada, Iceland, Austria, Greece, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the Czech Republic, IPN reports.
President Sandu made the first visit of 2023 on January 16-20 to Switzerland. In Davos, Maia Sandu took part in the World Economic Forum. Travel expenses covered from the budget of the President’s Office exceeded 67,000 lei, including for per diem, accommodation and air transport. On February 16-19, the President visited Germany to take part in the 59th Munich Security Conference. Travel expenses covered by the President’s Office amounted to 43,000 lei.
Also, Maia Sandu paid a working visit to Poland’s Warsaw on February 21-22 and the travel expenses came to over 14,000 lei. On February 23, the head of state went on a working visit to Bucharest, Romania, and the expenses were similar to those incurred for the visit to Warsaw. On March 31, the President attended the 2023 Bucha Summit held in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Money from the budget of the President’s Office was not spent on this visit.
In the second quarter, as in the first, the head of state paid five visits abroad. On April 3, Maia Sandu went on a working visit to Bucharest and spent over 14,000 lei on the trip. On May 4-6, Maia Sandu went to London to attend the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, with the travel expenses totaling over 22,000 lei. The same month, on May10-12, the President paid a working visit to Montreal, Canada. Travel expenses exceeded 55,000 lei. On May 12-13, the working visit continued in Chicago, the U.S., the expenses adding up to over 19,000 lei.
Between May 16 and May 18, the head of state attended the Council of Europe Summit held in Iceland. The expenses were close to 30,000 lei.
The third quarter of last year began with a visit to Austria. There, on July 26-29, Maia Sandu took part in the Salzburg Summit. The expenses were almost 12,000 lei. On August 21-22, the President took part in the working meeting of heads of state and government from Southeastern Europe and the Western Balkans held in Athens, Greece. No costs were incurred from the budget of the President’s Office.
On August 28-29, the head of state took part in the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, and the expenses came to over 6,000 lei. In early autumn, on September 3-5, Maia Sandu paid a working visit to The Hague in the Netherlands. Travel expenses amounted to 43,000 lei. On September 5-6, the President went on a working visit to Bucharest, the expenses being over 14,000 lei.
The head of state also took part in the High-Level Meeting of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly staged in New York on September 17-21. The expenses related to the visit were almost 38,000 lei.
From September 30 to October 4, the President was on a working visit to Lisbon, Portugal. Travel expenses exceeded 20,000 lei. From Portugal, President Sandu went to Spain. There, on October 4-6, Maia Sandu took part in the European Political Community Summit held in Granada. The expenses were close to 33,000 lei.
Another working visit was made on October 15-17 to the Czech capital, Prague, and the expenses related to the trip were close to 19,000 lei. Subsequently, from 17 to 19 October, the President paid an official working visit to Switzerland, to the cities of Bern and Zurich. For this purpose, over 58,000 lei was spent from the budget of the President’s Office.
The last trip abroad last year was made to Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 21-22. The expenses came to over 5,000 lei.
In total, the staff of the Office of the President of the Republic of Moldova in 2023 made 62 service trips abroad. These were working and fact-finding visits and visits to take part in various events.
