Previous articles in this series:
Why local elections are more important than they seem: the territory no one is arguing about;
The territory does not start anew after each reform;
Self-government without a self-sustaining economy;
The Road: From the Logic of the Colony to the Logic of Development.
The Mayor as a Deficit Manager
A Depressed Region: A Map Without a Future
Each region has its own scenario
The periphery does not begin where a good road ends. It begins where a territory ceases to manage its own economic flows: people leave, raw materials are exported, added value is created elsewhere, decisions are made outside the territory, and the budget relies on transfers.
You can be close to the capital and still remain on the periphery. You can have a road—and use it for outflow. You can have a university—and train professionals for other markets. You can have external connections—and remain a lower link in someone else’s chain.
The periphery is not a geographical location. It is a mindset that is already beginning to rob us of our future.
Chisinau as a Vacuum Cleaner
The gross regional product (GRP) per capita in Chisinau is nearly five times higher than in other regions. The country generates about $18.2 billion in GDP—and the capital accumulates a disproportionate share of it: added value, jobs, administrative decisions, financial flows, universities, and healthcare.
Proximity to the center offers opportunities—but it can also turn the region into a service appendage to the capital. People live in the suburbs, work in Chisinau, and shop in Chisinau. The local area does not benefit economically; instead, it bears the burden: utility issues and infrastructure that must be maintained—without the corresponding revenue. This is the periphery in the capital’s shadow. The paradox: an area can be geographically close yet functionally dependent.
For more remote areas, the situation is even harsher. The road to the capital becomes a route of departure. A mistake of the past—ignoring the development of the “vacuum cleaner” megacenter—already seriously limits any scenarios for regional development: the local labor market is shrinking. The territory is turning not into a place of development, but into a transit point before migration.
Connectivity ≠ Development
A region may have roads, internet access, trade ties, and external orders—and still fail to achieve development. Because the question is not whether connectivity exists. The question is who controls the outcome of that connectivity.
A road leading to a market where value-added products are sold is development. A road leading to a middleman who buys raw materials cheaply is dependence.
A border that opens up exports of finished products is a resource. A border that facilitates the outflow of people and raw materials is a drain.
A university connected to the local economy is an anchor. A university that prepares people for emigration is a drain.
Moldova too often confuses infrastructural connectivity with economic agency. Building a road means development. Opening a border crossing means export potential. But infrastructure merely creates a channel. The channel works both ways.
Typology of the Periphery
In Moldova, there are several types of periphery that often overlap.
Internal—close to the center, but without an independent role.
Agglomeration—supports the capital’s growth.
Raw-material periphery—produces the basis of wealth but does not retain that wealth.
Labor-supply periphery—trains people for foreign markets.
Budget-dependent periphery—relies on transfers and decisions from above.
Symbolic periphery—has status but lacks an economic engine. Comrat combines all these types.
Case Study: Comrat: A Peripheral City Overlooking the Border
At first glance, Comrat’s location does not appear peripheral: 100 km from Chișinău, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border, a university, autonomous status, an agricultural base, and international production ties.
But it is precisely Comrat that best illustrates this point: peripherality is not about distance.
Gagauzia is the country’s second-most populous region, with 155,600 people. Its share of Moldova’s industrial production is about 2.3% (2009 data; no significant growth has been recorded). The region’s exports total $80–90 million annually, consisting mainly of raw materials. The territory is active—and at the same time peripheral.
The R34 highway connects Comrat with Chisinau—and accelerates its marginalization. Every day, workers and students from Comrat State University travel along it: there is no job market in the city for their fields of study. The road physically connects the region, but functionally, it reveals where the region’s energy is flowing.
The border with Ukraine has not become an advantage—not because it is far away, but because there is a lack of logistics, warehouses, certification, and export expertise. The border does not generate exports. It is merely a channel. Without infrastructure, it is just a line in a strategy.
Garment factories provide employment, but design, branding, profit margins, and strategic decisions remain outside the region.
KSU improves the quality of human capital—and this capital flows to where there is demand. The center gets the talent; the periphery gets a reminder of its potential.
Key value-added flows pass through Comrat without taking root there. This is the main hallmark of the periphery—not distance, but the inability to retain these flows.
The solution is clear: agricultural raw materials should go to processing. Graduates of the State University of Comrat—to local enterprises. The border—into logistics and exports. Political status—into a special economic agreement with the center.
Then proximity will begin to function as a resource, rather than a channel of dependence.
Moldova as a whole does not need a new administrative map, but rather a map of flows: where added value is created, where it is retained, where people are going, where raw materials are going, and who controls logistics and branding.
Without addressing these issues, the state will continue to confuse connectivity with development—rejoicing over a new road while failing to notice that people are leaving via it.
Development is not measured in kilometers. It is measured by what a region is able to retain within its borders.
Eugen Perestoronin,
journalist, economic and political analyst
Dmitri Taraburca,
economist, expert in real estate and territorial development
