The economy of Moldova is an emerging upper-middle income economy, with a high Human Development Index. Moldova is a landlocked Eastern European country, bordered by Ukraine on the East and Romania to the West. It is a former Soviet republic and today a candidate member to the European Union.
The national flag of the Republic of Moldova is a vertical triband of blue, yellow, and red, charged with the coat of arms of Moldova on the centre bar. The reverse is mirrored. The flag ratio is 1:2. Until further provisions, the State Flag of Moldova is used as the national flag and ensign as well; that is, civil, state and war flag and ensign.
Moldova is divided administratively into two levels:
The president of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020.
The Security and Intelligence Service (Romanian: Serviciul de Informații și Securitate, SIS) is a Moldovan state body specialized in ensuring national security by exercising all appropriate intelligence and counter-intelligence measures, such as: collecting, processing, checking and capitalizing the information needed to identify, prevent and counteract any actions that according to law represent an internal or external threat to independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, constitutional order, democratic development, internal security of the state, society and citizens, the statehood of the Republic of Moldova, the stable functioning of vitally important branches of the national economy, both on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and abroad.
Moldtelecom is a Moldovan state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in Chişinău. In September 2023, Moldtelecom held a dominant position in the fixed-line telephony market (89%). However, its market share was lower in other sectors: broadband internet (56.4%), pay television (55%) and mobile telephony (9%).
The Trupele de Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie force of the Republic of Moldova, under the administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova. The Moldovan Carabinieri are to ensure, together with the police or independently, public order, protection of rights and freedoms of citizens, owners' properties and prevention of violations of the law. The structure of the agency is based on the Italian Carabinieri, where it gets its name.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the fourteen ministries of the Government of Moldova.
The Armed Forces of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic are the military forces of the unrecognized state of Transnistria. The Armed Forces fall under the leadership of the Ministry of Defence. The Armed Forces were created on 6 September 1991 to maintain the sovereignty and independence of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, in accordance with Article 11 of the Republic's Constitution.
The Government of the Republic of Moldova allows citizens of specific countries/territories to visit Moldova for tourism or business purposes without having to obtain a visa, often based on bilateral agreements. Citizens of other countries must obtain a visa from the embassy of their residence country or online eVisa. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 3 months beyond the period of intended stay.
Maia Sandu is a Moldovan politician who has been the President of Moldova since 24 December 2020. She is the founder and former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and former Prime Minister of Moldova from 8 June 2019 until 14 November 2019, when the government collapsed after a vote of no-confidence. Sandu was Minister of Education from 2012 to 2015 and member of the Parliament of Moldova from 2014 to 2015, and again in 2019. Sandu was elected President of Moldova in a landslide victory during the 2020 Moldovan presidential election. The first female president of Moldova, Sandu is a strong supporter of the accession of Moldova to the European Union, overseeing Moldova's granting of candidate status, and is considered 'pro-Western'. She has criticised and opposed Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supported subsequent steps to reduce Moldova's economic dependence on Russia, frequently expressing sympathy and support for Ukraine in the conflict. Sandu has made anti-corruption, economic reform and liberalisation a central part of her political platform, as well as closer integration with Europe. In February 2023, she accused Russia of seeking to stage a coup of the Moldovan government and has continued to seek to reduce Russia's influence over the country.
The Presidential Band of the Republic of Moldova is an artist collective and the senior most military band of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova, specifically serving the President of Moldova in his/her position as commander in chief. The band plays at welcome ceremonies of foreign officials on state visits, ceremonies of national importance, military parades, the accreditation ceremonies for ambassadors to Moldova, and various community events. The current commander of the band is Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Vozniuc, who is the director of all the military bands in the armed forces. The band, which currently consists of 110 musicians, has performed in international festivals and military tattoos in Germany, Russia, Belgium and Romania.
The Filip Cabinet was the Cabinet of Moldova led by Pavel Filip from January 2016 to June 2019.
Alexandru Jizdan is a Moldovan politician and police officer who served as Minister of Internal Affairs of Moldova from 2016 to 2019 in the Filip Cabinet. Previously he worked in various positions in structures of Interior Ministry, and in 2015-2016 worked as deputy director of Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova. After the April 2009 protests in Moldova he was awarded by the then-minister Gheorghe Papuc for executing well the orders. From 9 March 2019, the MP of the DPM in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
The Moldovan National Army is the senior branch of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova composed of the Air Force and the Land Forces. The National Army is considered to be the regular duty military force while the other branch of the armed forces, the Trupele de Carabinieri, is focused on paramilitary activities.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Moldovan National Army also known as the Commander of National Army is the professional head of the Moldovan National Army and the larger Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova. The position was established on 26 April 1994, two days after the general staff of the national army was established.
The State Protection and Guard Service of Moldova is a Moldovan independent government agency and institution which has the duty of protecting government officials, as well as foreign dignitaries, and their relatives. It specifically charged with the protection of President of Moldova during his/her travels. It also provides guards for the headquarters and residences of government agencies. It is very similar to the Protection and Guard Service of Romania. The service's motto is Honor et Fides.
Victor Gaiciuc is a Moldovan military general, who served as Moldovan Minister of Defense from 2001 until 2004, 2019 until 2020 and 2020 until 2021. He was also the National Security Advisor to former president Igor Dodon. He is currently the chairman of the Union of Officers of Moldova and was also the secretary of the Supreme Security Council.
Nicolae "Nicu" Popescu is a Moldovan author and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova from 6 August 2021 until 26 January 2024 in the Gavrilita and then Recean cabinets. He was also Moldova's Foreign Minister from 11 June - 14 November 2019 in the Sandu Cabinet. Until his appointment, he was the director of the Wider Europe programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations and visiting professor at Sciences Po-Paris.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Moldova was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached the Republic of Moldova on 7 March 2020, when a Moldovan woman who returned from Italy tested positive for the novel coronavirus. As the number of infected people started to rise during the next days, the Parliament declared a state of emergency on 17 March 2020 for the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova for a period of 60 days.
