Having a war near you is like having a fire in the neighbourhood and if your neighbour’s house is on fire, you need to do something, and that’s the situation in Moldova, the country’s Ambassador to India Ana Taban said on the Russia-Ukraine war raging for over three years.
The small Eastern European country is bordered by Ukraine on three sides, while its western border touches Romania. Though Moldova is not directly under conflict presently, its location puts it in a vulnerable position in the broader regional conflict.
The present government is taking steps to distance itself from Russia and move closer to the West, including joining EU sanctions against Russia and advancing its EU candidacy. Moldova may join the EU by 2028, Taban says in an interview with The Indian Express.
Taban, also the country’s first resident ambassador to India, recalled that after a full-fledged mission came up only in June 2023 despite having diplomatic relations for 33 years, they organised a visit by Moldovan Agriculture Minister, and the two countries signed a pact to form a joint working group to discuss priorities. Then the work started to promote education in India, she added.
“The number of Indian students applying for our universities is growing (mostly in medicine and engineering). We now have around 3,000 Indian students, who are the biggest community of international students,” she says, adding many of them also sought a transfer from Ukraine after the war.
“Nobody was expecting that the war would start,” she says, “so when the war started, the (displaced) population from Ukraine started to come to our country as refugees. And we were ready to receive them. People just opened the doors of their houses to receive the refugees.”
Almost a million Ukrainian refugees transited through Moldova, and at one point, Taban says there were around 100,000 refugees, most of them women and kids, and they comprised almost 5% of the country’s 2.5 million population.
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Taban also recalled how thousands of Indian students stranded in Ukraine also transited through their country in early 2022 on their way to Romania, from where the Indian government had arranged flights for their return.
“When the war started, I was in Moldova, as the chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. And I arranged a phone call between (External Affairs) Minister S Jaishankar and my minister, on how to organise a smooth transit for Indian students from Ukraine to Romania,” she says.
Also, the war has shifted the country’s focus to other markets, she says. “We are producing a lot of apples. Earlier, we used to export our apples to Russia. Now, because of the war, we were looking into other markets. We are looking to export our wine,” she says. Meanwhile, Moldova is importing tea and rice from India, besides cooperation on renewables.
The two countries have also started discussions on a mobility and partnership agreement, as Moldova requires more manpower in agriculture and construction sectors. They are also looking at increasing trade volumes.
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On the war and the ongoing talks, Taban says that it was discussed between Moldova Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi, during his visit to India earlier this year, and Jaishankar. “The message from my foreign minister was that India can play a very big role in finding a solution for peace. We hope that India can help in this regard,” she said.
“… It is very important to have a long-lasting peace. And a very strong security guarantee for Ukraine… security for Ukraine is important for Moldova, for the region. Our perception is if Ukraine resists, Moldova will be safe,” she said.
