Mihai Popșoi
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi made this statement during an appearance on the program *Dimensiunea Diplomatică* on Moldova 1.
In countries comparable to ours, embassies employ three, four, or five economic advisors, whereas in the Republic of Moldova there are barely enough of them, noted the head of the Foreign Ministry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Plans to Expand
Moldova intends to expand its diplomatic presence in Northern European countries, where the potential for relations is underutilized due to a lack of diplomatic missions.
“We will open offices of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Oslo and Copenhagen, as well as embassy representative offices in Stockholm and The Hague, so that—despite our limited resources—we can increase our presence and take advantage of the enormous opportunities offered to us by our partners, whether it be Norway or Denmark. We have close ties and great potential, but without even a single diplomat in these capitals, it is difficult to fully realize the potential of our relations”, the Deputy Prime Minister explained.
In the long term, Moldova plans to open missions in Egypt and South Korea, expand its consular presence in Germany and France, and strengthen relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Moldova acknowledges that it lags behind other countries of comparable size in terms of the resources allocated to economic diplomacy.
“There are countries more or less comparable to us in size and capabilities whose embassies employ three, four, or five economic advisors. We barely have enough for one. And we have many diplomatic missions that lack a specialized unit for economic issues. This is a shortcoming, an obstacle that we must overcome,” Popșoi said on national television.
The minister emphasized that economic diplomacy must bring tangible benefits to citizens and the business community by attracting investment and promoting exports.
“A citizen might rightly ask what concrete benefit they derive if we have such excellent relations and so many high-level visits, yet our products aren’t being exported or we aren’t receiving investments from partner countries. And this is a perfectly valid criticism. That is precisely why we will allocate more resources and pay greater attention to the economic aspect”, added Popșoi.
It should be noted that the central administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has nearly 200 employees. At the same time, the Republic of Moldova currently has 36 embassies, 11 consulates, and four permanent missions to international organizations.
