Statement by Foreign Ministers of Germany, France and Romania, as the Hosts of the Moldova Support Conference “Bridge of Solidarity”

We welcome today’s launching of the Moldova Support Platform (MSP). We thank Foreign Ministers and high-level representatives from 36 States1, Heads and Deputy Heads of 9 international organisations, including international financial institutions,2 coming together in Berlin for the first Moldova Support Conference (MSC).   The government of the Republic of Moldova (hereafter “Moldova”) - represented by: Prime Minister Natalia Gavrili?a, Deputy Prime-Minister Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu as well as Ana Revenco, Minister of Internal Affairs, Marcel Spatari, Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Veronica Mihailov, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice and Dumitru Udrea, Secretary General of the Government - outlined the situation created by Russia’s ongoing illegal aggression against Moldova’s eastern neighbour, Ukraine, and expressed Moldova’s most urgent needs. In this context, we remain committed to strengthening Moldova’s resilience and share its burden in providing shelter and hospitality to Ukrainian refugees. Moldova has opened its borders for almost 400,000 people and about 100,000 of them are currently hosted in the country. We applaud the citizens of Moldova for their extraordinary solidarity and generosity. Based upon the Moldovan government’s commitment to pursue decisively a reform agenda focusing on efforts to strengthen the rule of law, to tackle corruption and to build strong and resilient institutions, we jointly stressed our commitment to continue supporting Moldova in the implementation and monitoring of these reforms in order to achieve tangible improvements in the lives of the citizens of Moldova.   We also recognize the pressure the current situation is placing on Moldova and its institutions. In close cooperation with the Moldovan government, we have identified five areas in which we will be providing support in the short, medium and longer term: The participants at the MSC have mobilized immediate in-kind support for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. In order to provide immediate relief to the reception facilities in Moldova, the participating countries agreed to intensify their efforts to resettle the displaced persons currently present on Moldova’s territory. Russia’s war of aggression has also laid bare the challenges relating to border management. Both smuggling of goods, arms and illegal substances and human trafficking undermine the rule of law. The participants at the MSC have also announced a total amount of 659,5 million EUR in direct financial support for Moldova, including 108,2 million EUR in direct grant assistance and 530 million EUR in credit lines were announced. In particular, the  Commission and International Financial Institutions agreed on providing direct financial assistance. Furthermore, we agreed to support the reform priorities outlined by Moldova, including in the fight against corruption and strengthening of the rule of law. With regard to strengthening Moldova’s economic resilience, the cooperation will focus on sustainable development in order to improve Moldova’s international trade opportunities and harness its ability to generate revenues. We agreed to support increasing trade quotas under DCFTA. Finally at the MSC, we pledged to provide assistance to Moldova for the consolidation of its energy security, including for gas supply diversification and strengthening of gas connectivity inside Moldova, as well as for an enhanced connectivity to the European energy market, building on the recent connection of Moldova to ENTSO-E. We also outlined prospects for a successful energy transition, with a sustainable and reliable energy mix in Moldova. In total, participants also announced support to address humanitarian need as well as reform programmes to Moldova worth up to 135,5 million EUR. This support comes on top of already existing development cooperation programmes. In addition, Moldova also receives a part of the substantial humanitarian support of the international community to Ukrainian refugees and IDPs both in Ukraine and the region. Today, we agreed to continue to work together in a comprehensive and coordinated approach. We reaffirm our strong commitment to take to a new level our to forward-looking cooperation with Moldova, which remains firmly based on common fundamental values and shared aspirations for peace, freedom, democracy and prosperity. The Moldova Support Platform proved to be a useful frame for national officials and international institutions to achieve progress along the five above-mentioned lines of action side-by-side with Moldova. Therefore we agreed to set up five working groups3 at senior-officials level which will continue the work initiated today and contribute to the preparation of a follow-up conference to be held in Bucharest, upon the initiative of Romania.   [1] Countries in alphabetical order: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America. [2] Institutions in alphabetical order: European Union represented by EC and EEAS, European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Migration Organisation (IOM), International Monetary Fund (), Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (), ,  and World Bank. [3] The five working groups are: (1) The war against Ukraine and the humanitarian situation of refugees from Ukraine; (2) Fight against corruption as a priority on Moldova’s reform agenda; (3) Energy challenges for Moldova; (4) Financial assistance and strengthening of Moldova’s economic resilience; (5) Effective border management. (Source:https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/)