A moldova consular office in Iasi

The consulate will provide various services to Moldovan citizens in the east of Romania. We are talking of no less than 1,600 Moldovan students going to university in Iasi, not to mention tens of thousands of families who rely on small cross-border trade to make a living.


The inauguration was attended by the two foreign ministers, Iurie Leanca from Moldova, and Teodor Baconschi from Romania; the latter said, at the opening, that the new consulate is an additional bridge between the two states, and that relations between them are now on a much more pragmatic footing. “This dynamic must be preserved, so that the citizens of Romania and the Republic of Moldova feel closer”, said Baconschi. Minister Leanca also said that he felt this was a special occasion, as special as when two Romanian consulates were opened on July 7th in Balti and Cahul, to cover the northern and southern parts of the country respectively. He said that all these events are a part of the wave of novelty in bilateral relations after the pro-Russian leadership in Chisinau was replaced by a pro-European four-party coalition.


However, a lot is yet to be done for the Republic of Moldova, which now stands at the crossroads between East and West, to become firmly entrenched in the West. The new government’s successes, which saved the economy and set it on a path to growth with the help of loans from the IMF, the US, the EU and Romania, do not seem enough, though, to win over all the voters. The US think tank Stratfor, believes that, even though it is the main supporter that the reformist regime in Chisinau has, Romania has not managed to consolidate its position in the neighboring state. Stratfor further believes that too few Romanian NGOs, media outlets and companies are present in the Republic, warning that this puts pro-Western parties in a fragile position ahead of early elections to be held next month. However, Russia and its communist supporters have two strong points: the nostalgia of older generations who lived in Soviet times, and the lack of coherence in the government coalition. On a long term, however, American experts doubt that Russia will manage to draw closer a younger generation which identifies much better with the West.