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Maia Sandu (Prime Minister of Republic of Moldova)/caption
Maia Sandu was born on May 24 1972 in Risipeni (Făleti) Republic of Moldova. She studies at the Academy of Economic Studies (bachelors degree in economics 1994) and Academy of Public Administration (masters degree in international relations 1998) in Chiinău Republic of Moldova and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts (masters degree in administration 2010).
She works as a counselor (Ministry of Economy 1994-1998) economist (World Bank Office in the Republic of Moldova 1998-2005) and consultant (TACIS PCA Project 2006-2007; World Bank Office in the Republic of Moldova 2008; Government of the Republic of Moldova 2008-2009) in Chiinău Republic of Moldova then as Adviser to the Executive Director (World Bank 2010-2012) in Washington DC United States.
As a politician Maia Sandu was Minister of Education (Government of the Republic of Moldova 2012-2015) party leader (the Party of Action and Solidarity/PAS liberal-populist 2016 to present) parliamentarian (Parliament of the Republic of Moldova 2019 to present) and Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova (2019 to present).
During the period of September 18 to 19 2019 a delegation of the Government of the Republic of Moldova led by the Prime Minister Maia Sandu paid a visit to the United States. On September 18 2019 the delegation met with the Diaspora representatives in Washington DC at the Rayburn House Office Building. At the end of that meeting Madam Prime Minister Maia Sandu was kind enough to give me an exclusive interview.
1. Prime Minister Maia Sandu what are the goals of your visit to the United States?
I am here to communicate to the US authorities about the vision and priorities of the government that I lead. I am here to thank you for the support we have gained since the independence from the Soviet Union on August 27 1991. Yes and for the support that has been given to the government that I lead from the first days of June 8 2019. And I am here to get support on important areas for us such as judicial reform fighting corruption security issues creating economic development opportunities. And today we had a lot of great meetings including with
Vice President Mike Pence it was a good visit as I said.
2. With the First Lady you mentioned.
We talked about the meeting with Ivanka Trump a meeting where we discussed...
3. With the First Daughter.
Exactly a meeting where we discussed possible projects to support women in politics and business. And tomorrow we will be here for another round of meetings.
4. So the next day. Thank you. What are the challenges now facing the Republic of Moldova?
First of all the Republic of Moldova has to convince its own citizens to stay home to regain peoples confidence in the state of the Republic of Moldova and for this we have to do many things. First we have to reform the judiciary we must let people know that justice will do them justice. We have to build anti-corruption institutions so that all those who have been involved in major corruption acts in particular are sanctioned. We have to try to recover at least some of the money that was stolen from the government. We must create these economic opportunities we have to improve the business environment because only through economic development we can provide jobs higher salaries and respectively to increase the living standard of citizens. We must have solutions for the external risks and security problems we face. We discussed including here in Washington about the Transnistrian conflict and the challenges we face because of this frozen conflict. And obviously the most important thing for us is to move toward the European integration.
5. You also mentioned about judicial reform. A few words as an internal challenge.
This is the biggest challenge at the moment. The judiciary has been used over time by interest groups by certain politicians. The citizens trust in justice has been lost completely and this means first of all distrusting the government and two it means that the investors both local and foreign will not want to invest in the Republic of Moldova because they are not sure that the their monies belong to them or that they will be defended by the judiciary. There is a resistance in the system. Changes are difficult. At the political level it is not easy to promote these reforms. But we are determined and will insist. It is the most important priority of the government that I run.
6. Last question Madam Prime Minister. How do you see in your opinion the role of Romania in fulfilling the goals of the Republic of Moldova?
We have a very good relationship with the Romanian government. Since the first days of this government we have been receiving all the support. We have managed to make a few visits to Bucharest and start discussions on several levels. I talked about the urgency of implementing certain projects initiated in the past. And here I refer first of all to the Iai-Chiinău Gas Pipeline. We have started discussions on new projects such as the Ungheni Bridge. We are talking about support in the field of justice in the field of education. And we want things to happen very quickly. Both for long-term projects but also for projects that can demonstrate short-term results.
7. Can you elaborate a little bit for the readers of the magazine on that technical side with the pipeline about the thinner and wider pipes?
Much work is being done on this project at the Iai-Chiinău gas pipeline (Iai-Ungheni and now Iai-Chiinău). I understand that in the past there were certain impediments created by the Chiinău governments. And we can only suspect why this happened because the monopoly is known to be used to generate illegal revenue for certain politicians. We believe that this gas pipeline will allow us to get rid of Russias monopoly on natural gas supply to the Republic of Moldova. And on the Moldovan side the project will be completed the construction will be completed by the end of this calendar year. On Romanias territory we understand that the project or construction will be completed by the middle of next year. It is important to make the pipes wider so that through this pipeline we can reach the maximum capacity of one billion and five hundred million cubic meters of natural gas which would represent half of the consumption of the Republic of Moldova a very important volume for us.
8. Thank you very much Madam Prime Minister.
With pleasure.
NOTE - A version of the article was published in MEDIUM.
TIBERIU DIANU has published several books and a host of articles in law politics and post-communist societies. He currently lives and works in Washington DC and can be followed on MEDIUM.
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