"text":"Part of Romania during the interwar period, Moldova was incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Although the country has been independent from the USSR since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Nistru River supporting the separatist region of Transnistria, composed of a Slavic majority population (mostly Ukrainians and Russians), but with a sizable ethnic Moldovan minority. Europe's poorest economy, Moldova became the first former Soviet state to elect a communist, Vladimir VORONIN, as its president in 2001. VORONIN served as Moldova's president until he resigned in September 2009. Four Moldovan opposition parties then formed a new coalition, the Alliance for European Integration (AEI), iterations of which acted as Moldova's governing coalitions over the next several years. In May 2013, two of the original AEI parties and a splinter group from a third re-formed a ruling coalition called the Pro-European Coalition. The Moldovan Government in summer 2014 signed and ratified an Association Agreement with the EU, advancing the Coalition's policy priority of EU integration. Following the country's most recent legislative election in November 2014, the three pro-European parties that entered Parliament won a total of 55 of the body's 101 seats, enough for a majority coalition. After negotiations among the three broke down, however, two of the parties - the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Democratic Party (PD) - agreed to form the Alliance for a European Moldova (AEM) and a minority government with their combined 42 seats. In February 2015, the PLDM and the PD secured Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova support to win parliamentary approval with 60 votes for their minority government."
"text":"heavy use of agricultural chemicals, including banned pesticides such as DDT, has contaminated soil and groundwater; extensive soil erosion from poor farming methods"
"text":"landlocked; well endowed with various sedimentary rocks and minerals including sand, gravel, gypsum, and limestone"
}
},
"People and Society":{
"Nationality":{
"noun":{
"text":"Moldovan(s)"
},
"adjective":{
"text":"Moldovan"
}
},
"Ethnic groups":{
"text":"Moldovan 75.8%, Ukrainian 8.4%, Russian 5.9%, Gagauz 4.4%, Romanian 2.2%, Bulgarian 1.9%, other 1%, unspecified 0.4%",
"note":{
"text":"internal disputes with ethnic Slavs in the Transnistrian region (2004 est.)"
}
},
"Languages":{
"text":"Moldovan 58.8% (official; virtually the same as the Romanian language), Romanian 16.4%, Russian 16%, Ukrainian 3.8%, Gagauz 3.1% (a Turkish language), Bulgarian 1.1%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.4%",
"note":{
"text":"percentages represent lanugage usually spoken (2004 est.)"
}
},
"Religions":{
"text":"Orthodox 93.3%, Baptist 1%, other Christian 1.2%, other 0.9%, atheist 0.4%, none 1%, unspecified 2.2% (2004 est.)"
"text":"Interim Prime Gheorghe BREGA (since 30 October 2015); Minister Valeriu STRELET (since 30 July 2015) ousted in no-confidence vote 29 October 2015"
"text":"president indirectly elected by Parliament by absolute majority vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 16 March 2012 (next to be held in March 2016); prime minister designated by the president upon consultation with Parliament; within 15 days from designation, the prime minister-designate must request a vote of confidence for his/her proposed work program from the Parliament; the prime minister and Cabinet received a vote of confidence on 30 July 2015"
"text":"unicameral Parliament or Parlament (101 seats; members directly elected in a single, nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 30 November 2014 (next to be held in November 2018)"
"text":"Supreme Court of Justice (consists of a chief judges, 3 deputy-chief judges, 45 judges, and 7 assistant judges); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president and 6 judges); note - the Constitutional Court is autonomous to the other branches of government; the Court interprets the Constitution and reviews the constitutionality of parliamentary laws and decisions, decrees of the president, and acts of the government"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court of Justice judges appointed by Parliament upon the recommendation of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy; all judges serve 4-year renewable terms; Constitutional Court judges appointed 2 each by Parliament, the Moldovan president, and the Higher Council of Magistracy; court president elected by other court judges for a 3-year term; other judges appointed for 6-year terms"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Courts of Appeal; Court of Business Audit; municipal courts"
}
},
"Political parties and leaders":{
"represented in Parliament":{
"text":" ++ Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova or PCRM [Vladimir VORONIN] ++ Democratic Party or PD [Marian LUPU] ++ Liberal Democratic Party or PLDM [Vladimir FILAT] ++ Liberal Party or PL [Mihai GHIMPU] ++ Party of Socialists or PSRM [Igor DODON]"
},
"not represented in Parliament":{
"text":" ++ Anti-Fascist Movement or Antifa [Grigore PETRENCO] ++ Anti-Mafia Movement [Sergiu MOCANU] ++ Christian Democratic People's Party or PPCD [Iurie ROSCA] ++ Conservative Party or PC [Natalia NIRCA] ++ Ecological Party of Moldova \"Green Alliance\" or PEMAVE [Vladimir BRAGA] ++ European Action Movement or MAE [Veaceslav UNTILA] ++ Humanist Party of Moldova or PUM [Valeriu PASAT] ++ Labor Party or PM [Gheorghe SIMA] ++ Liberal Reformers Party or PLR [Ion HADARCA] ++ National Liberal Party or PNL [Vitalia PAVLICENKO] ++ Our Party [Renato USATII] ++ Patriots of Moldova Party or PPM [Mihail GARBUZ] ++ Popular Republican Party or PPR [Nicolae ANDRONIC] ++ Republican Party of Moldova or PRM [Andrei STRATAN] ++ Roma Social Political Movement of the Republic of Moldova or MRRM [Ion BUCUR] ++ Social Democratic Party or PSD [Victor SELIN] ++ Social Political Movement \"Equality\" or MR [Valeriy KLIMENCO] ++ United Moldova Party or PMUEM [Vladimir TURCAN]"
"text":"Ambassador James D. PETTIT (since 29 January 2015)"
},
"embassy":{
"text":"103 Mateevici Street, Chisinau MD-2009"
},
"mailing address":{
"text":"use embassy street address"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[373] (22) 40-8300"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[373] (22) 23-3044"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and red; emblem in center of flag is of a Roman eagle of gold outlined in black with a red beak and talons carrying a yellow cross in its beak and a green olive branch in its right talons and a yellow scepter in its left talons; on its breast is a shield divided horizontally red over blue with a stylized aurochs head, star, rose, and crescent all in black-outlined yellow; based on the color scheme of the flag of Romania - with which Moldova shares a history and culture - but Moldova's blue band is lighter; the reverse of the flag does not display any coat of arms",
"note":{
"text":"one of only three national flags that differ on their obverse and reverse sides - the others are Paraguay and Saudi Arabia"
}
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"aurochs (a type of wild cattle); national colors: blue, yellow, red"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Limba noastra\" (Our Language)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Alexei MATEEVICI/Alexandru CRISTEA"
},
"note":{
"text":"adopted 1994"
}
}
},
"Economy":{
"Economy - overview":{
"text":"Despite recent progress, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. With a moderate climate and good farmland, Moldova's economy relies heavily on its agriculture sector, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, and tobacco. Moldova also depends on annual remittances of about $1.6 billion from the roughly one million Moldovans working in Europe, Russia, and other former Soviet Bloc countries. With few natural energy resources, Moldova imports almost all of its energy supplies from Russia and Ukraine. Moldova's dependence on Russian energy is underscored by a growing $5 billion debt to Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom, largely the result of unreimbursed natural gas consumption in the separatist Transnistria region. In August 2013, work began on a new pipeline between Moldova and Romania that may eventually break Russia's monopoly on Moldova's gas supplies. The government's goal of EU integration has resulted in some market-oriented progress. Moldova experienced better than expected economic growth in 2014 due to increased agriculture production, to economic policies adopted by the Moldovan government since 2009, and to the receipt of EU trade preferences. Moldova signed an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU during fall 2014, connecting Moldovan products to the world’s largest market. Still, growth has been hampered by high prices for Russian natural gas, a Russian import ban on Moldovan wine, increased foreign scrutiny of Moldovan agricultural products, and by Moldova’s large external debt. Over the longer term, Moldova's economy remains vulnerable to political uncertainty, weak administrative capacity, vested bureaucratic interests, corruption, higher fuel prices, Russian pressure, and the illegal separatist regime in Moldova's Transnistria region."
"Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy":{
"text":"9.415 million Mt (2012 est.)"
}
},
"Communications":{
"Telephones - fixed lines":{
"total subscriptions":{
"text":"1.22 million"
},
"subscriptions per 100 inhabitants":{
"text":"34 (2014 est.)"
}
},
"Telephones - mobile cellular":{
"total":{
"text":"3.7 million"
},
"subscriptions per 100 inhabitants":{
"text":"104 (2014 est.)"
}
},
"Telephone system":{
"general assessment":{
"text":"poor service outside Chisinau; some modernization is under way"
},
"domestic":{
"text":"multiple private operators of GSM mobile-cellular telephone service are operating; GPRS system is being introduced; a CDMA mobile telephone network began operations in 2007; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity 100 per 100 persons"
},
"international":{
"text":"country code - 373; service through Romania and Russia via landline; satellite earth stations - at least 3 (Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik) (2011)"
}
},
"Broadcast media":{
"text":"state-owned national radio-TV broadcaster operates 2 TV and 2 radio stations; a total of nearly 40 terrestrial TV channels and some 50 radio stations are in operation; Russian and Romanian channels also are available (2007)"
},
"Radio broadcast stations":{
"text":"AM 2, FM 29, shortwave NA (2006)"
},
"Television broadcast stations":{
"text":"40 (2006)"
},
"Internet country code":{
"text":".md"
},
"Internet users":{
"total":{
"text":"1.6 million"
},
"percent of population":{
"text":"44.8% (2014 est.)"
}
}
},
"Transportation":{
"Airports":{
"text":"7 (2013)"
},
"Airports - with paved runways":{
"total":{
"text":"5"
},
"over 3,047 m":{
"text":"1"
},
"2,438 to 3,047 m":{
"text":"2"
},
"1,524 to 2,437 m":{
"text":"2 (2013)"
}
},
"Airports - with unpaved runways":{
"total":{
"text":"2"
},
"1,524 to 2,437 m":{
"text":"1"
},
"under 914 m":{
"text":" ++ 1 (2013)"
}
},
"Pipelines":{
"text":"gas 1,906 km (2013)"
},
"Railways":{
"total":{
"text":"1,171 km"
},
"broad gauge":{
"text":"1,157 km 1.520-m gauge"
},
"standard gauge":{
"text":"14 km 1.435-m gauge (2014)"
}
},
"Roadways":{
"total":{
"text":"9,352 km"
},
"paved":{
"text":"8,835 km"
},
"unpaved":{
"text":"517 km (2012)"
}
},
"Waterways":{
"text":"558 km (in public use on Danube, Dniester and Prut rivers) (2011)"
},
"Merchant marine":{
"total":{
"text":"121"
},
"by type":{
"text":"bulk carrier 7, cargo 88, carrier 1, chemical tanker 3, passenger/cargo 7, petroleum tanker 2, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 11, specialized tanker 1"
},
"foreign-owned":{
"text":"63 (Bulgaria 1, Denmark 1, Egypt 5, Greece 1, Israel 2, Lebanon 1, Pakistan 1, Romania 2, Russia 5, Syria 5, Turkey 18, UK 3, Ukraine 14, Yemen 4) (2010)"
}
}
},
"Military":{
"Military branches":{
"text":"National Army: Land Forces Command, Air Forces Command (includes air defense unit) (2014)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; male registration required at age 16; 1-year service obligation (2012)"
},
"Manpower available for military service":{
"males age 16-49":{
"text":"1,143,440"
},
"females age 16-49":{
"text":"1,156,958 (2010 est.)"
}
},
"Manpower fit for military service":{
"males age 16-49":{
"text":"875,224"
},
"females age 16-49":{
"text":"969,903 (2010 est.)"
}
},
"Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually":{
"male":{
"text":"28,213"
},
"female":{
"text":"26,614 (2010 est.)"
}
},
"Military expenditures":{
"text":"0.3% of GDP (2014) ++ 0.3% of GDP (2012) ++ 0.3% of GDP (2011) ++ 0.3% of GDP (2010)"
}
},
"Transnational Issues":{
"Disputes - international":{
"text":"Moldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitor the transit of people and commodities through Moldova's break-away Transnistria region, which remains under the auspices of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe-mandated peacekeeping mission comprised of Moldovan, Transnistrian, Russian, and Ukrainian troops"
},
"Refugees and internally displaced persons":{
"refugees (country of origin)":{
"text":"6,779 applicants for forms of legal stay other than asylum (Ukraine) (2015)"
},
"stateless persons":{
"text":"2,036 (2014)"
}
},
"Illicit drugs":{
"text":"limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for CIS consumption; transshipment point for illicit drugs from Southwest Asia via Central Asia to Russia, Western Europe, and possibly the US; widespread crime and underground economic activity"
