Romania – Republic of Moldova: Analysis of Bilateral Economic Relations
Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.
This publication analyses economic relations between the Republic of Moldova and Romania over the past decade. It examines trade and investment ties, the factors that have held back their development, and the political tensions of 2009, with the aim of identifying how the potential for bilateral economic cooperation can be better used.
Over the last decade, economic relations between the two countries have developed steadily. Trade volumes have grown, and in 2008 Romania became the most important export market for Moldova, overtaking the Russian Federation. Investment relations, by contrast, are much weaker.
Despite these positive trends, the potential of bilateral economic ties has not been fully explored. Several factors have hindered their growth in both countries: political tensions, opaque privatisation policies, difficulties in ensuring adequate rail and customs traffic, and low quality of governance. Tensions peaked in 2009, when a visa regime for Romanian citizens was introduced on 8 April 2009 and the Romanian ambassador in Chișinău was declared persona non grata. Given Romania's strategic importance as Moldova's closest EU member state and a natural ally for its European aspirations, the publication argues that these obstacles must be identified and removed.
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