Location: Eastern Europe, north-east of Romania
Geographic coordinates: 45o28’ - 48o28’ N, 26o40’ - 30o06’ E
Area:
total: 33,843 sq. km
land: 33,371 sq. km
water: 472 sq. km (main rivers: Danube, Nistru, Prut, Raut; main lakes: Beleu, Bic, Dracele)
Population: 4,264,300 inh. (126,2 inh./1 sq. Km)
Land boundaries:
total: 1,389 km
border countries: Romania 450 km, Ukraine 939 km
Coastline: 200 m at the south extreme point (Giurgiulesti) with the delta of the Danube river
Extreme points:
lowest point: Nistru River -2 m
highest point: Dealul Balanesti +430 m
north point: Naslavcea
south point: Giurgiulesti
west point: Criva
east point: Palanca
Main cities: Chisinau, Balti, Tighina (Bender), Tiraspol
Climate: moderate winters (in January -4 -7 oC), warm summers (in July +25 +28 oC)
Terrain: Hilly steppes in the north & center (Codru), plain in the south (Bugeac Plain)
Natural resources: lignite, phosphorites, gypsum, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 53%
permanent crops: 14%
permanent pastures: 13%
forests and woodland: 9%
others: 11%
Soils: chernozemic (black soil), podzolic (forester soil)
Flora: 2300 species of wild plants (oak, beech, maple, linden)
Fauna: 68 species of mammals (fox, roe buck, deer, wild boar), 270 species of birds and more than 10 thousand species of invertebrates
The President of the Republic of Moldova - VLADIMIR VORONIN
The President of the Parliament - MARIAN LUPU
The Prime-minister - ZINAIDA GRECEANII
 The President of the Republic of Moldova- is the head of the State and is elected by Parliament by secret suffrage.
The Parliament - is the supreme representative body of the people and the sole legislative authority of the State in the Republic of Moldova. Parliament consists of 101 members.
The Government- the role is to carry out the domestic and foreign policy of the State and to apply general control over the work of public administration.
National Symbols.
 Flag - The State flag of the Republic of Moldova is a tricolour. The colours are arranged vertically in the following order from the flagpole: blue, yellow, red. The coast of arms is printed on the central yellow stripe of the tricolour.
 Coat of arms - Moldova’s coat of arms consist of a shield divided horizontally into two parts: the upper part is red, and the lower part is blue with a superimposed auroch’s head showing, between its horns an eight-pointed star. On its right the auroch’s head is flanked by a five –petalled rose, and on its left by a slightly rotated crescent. All heraldic elements present on the shield are of golden (yellow) colour. The shield is laid on the breast of a natural eagle holding in its break a golden cross, in its right claw a green olive-tree branch and in its left claw a golden sceptre.
The Republic of Moldova faces a period of transition to a market economy. The reforms promoted for the last years have determined the achievement of some positive results, such as: the creation of a bi-sectoral economy, the private sector having an impact of over 70% to GDP; prices liberalisation; creation of structures for a viable market (commercial banks, Free Economic Zones, etc.)
The undertaken economic reforms in Moldova enjoy the support of International economic-financial organisations. Since 1992, when Moldova adhered to IMF, WB and EBRD, it has benefited from a range of investments from International financial bodies and some countries, such as Romania, Russia, USA, Germany, Japan, and others.
The Republic of Moldova is an industrial-agricultural country. The share of agriculture and industry in real GDP constitutes 37 %, which amounted Lei 10134 million in 2003. About 50,8 % of the country’s active population are involved in agriculture.
The industry is specially concentrated on processing the raw agricultural material, and is also represented by light, chemical, wood processing, machine building industries.
The main products imported by Moldova are the natural gas, petrol products, transport means, and equipment. The most part of energetic resources is also imported. The process of energetic complex privatisation is presently taking place in the Republic of Moldova.
Nowadays, the essential share of the total number of economic agents belongs to :
the private sector – 93,3%
the enterprises with state ownership account to 3,6%
the entrparises with foreign capital – to 2,7%.
The evolution of macro-economic indicators during the last 5 years is as follows:
| |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
| Nominal GDP, Lei million |
12 321,6 |
15 980,0 |
19 019,0 |
22 040 |
27 292 |
| Real GDP, year-on-year % change |
-3,4 |
1,9 |
6,1 |
5,7 |
3,9 |
| Share of industry in GDP,% |
17 |
17,5 |
18 |
18,6 |
17,8 |
| Share of agriculture in GDP, % |
24,9 |
24,5 |
22,7 |
21,0 |
19,3 |
| Export (FOB), mil.USD |
469,3 |
475,0 |
516,0 |
592,5 |
705,4 |
| Import (FOB), mil.USD |
597,3 |
773,0 |
797,2 |
928,5 |
1 210,6 |
| Average exchange rate (Lei/USD) |
8,32 |
11,62 |
12,39 |
13,08 |
13,88 |
CHISINAU-THE CAPITAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Geographic position: latitude 47021 North and longitude 280501 East.
 Chisinau is a significant administrative, political, economic, scientific, cultural and touristic centre of the Republic of Moldova. The first historic record of the name Chisinau goes back to July 17 1436. The name derives from a word meaning “spring, pump, pipe”.
The city is located on seven hills and stretches over 120 km 2. The population of Chisinau is over 752 thousand. Chisinau is crossed by two rivers – the Bic and Isnovat. The climate is moderate continental. The City is divided into 5 sectors: Centre, Buiucani, Botanica, Riscani and Ciocana. The Greater Chisinau area comprises 18 territorial administrative areas: 1 municipality, 6 towns, 8 communities and 3 villages. The local administrative state body is the City Hall of Chisinau.
Annual City celebration:14 th of October.
Climate (Today’s Weather)
The Republic of Moldova is located in a zone with a temperate continental climate approximately half way between the Equator and North Pole. The four seasons of the year are clearly defined, winter being warm, and summer long, with a lot of sunny days. The general movement of the atmospheric air mass is mostly from the Northwest Atlantic or Southwest.The mean temperature of the air from North to South ranges between +7.5 0C and +10 0C. The temperature of the soil ranges between +10 0C and +12 0C. There are 2060–2360 hours of sunshine per year in Moldova; temperatures above freezing are registered 160–200 days per year; and precipitation ranges between 370 and 560 mm/year and more than 10% falls as snow, which can melt several times during winter.
The Winter in Moldova is moderate, with a mean temperature in January of –5 to -3 0C. Some days it can fall to –15 to -20 0C, and during an intrusion of the arctic air mass even to –35 0C. The spring is not stable, as the number of sunny days and the mean air temperature is rising. In May the temperature is around +15 0C, decreasing the risk of late frosts.
The summer is hot and long, with the long periods of drought. The mean temperature in July is +19.5 to +22 0C, but sometimes can reach +35 to +40 0C. The summer rains are in most cases heavy and of short duration, sometimes causing local flooding.
The autumn is warm and long too, a so-called “Indian summer”. In November the mean temperature falls to +5 to +3 0C and may bring the first snowfalls and frosts.
20.1.2009
|
Weather
|
T (°C)
|
Pressure
|
Wind
|
Day
|
Demi-cloudy, Without precipitates
|
26 - 28
|
746 - 748
|
N-E, 3 - 6
|
Evening
|
Demi-cloudy, Without precipitates
|
20 - 22
|
745 - 747
|
N-E, 3 - 6
|
21.1.2009
|
Weather
|
T (°C)
|
Pressure
|
Wind
|
Night
|
Cloudless, Without precipitates
|
17 - 19
|
746 - 748
|
E, 1 - 3
|
Morning
|
Cloudless, Without precipitates
|
20 - 22
|
746 - 748
|
N-W, 2 - 5
|
Day
|
Cloudless, Without precipitates
|
26 - 28
|
745 - 747
|
N-W, 2 - 5
|
Evening
|
Cloudless, Without precipitates
|
20 - 22
|
744 - 746
|
N, 1 - 3
|
22.1.2009
|
Weather
|
T (°C)
|
Pressure
|
Wind
|
Night
|
Cloudless, Without precipitates
|
16 - 18
|
743 - 745
|
N-W, 2 - 5
|
Morning
|
Cloudless, Without precipitates
|
24 - 26
|
743 - 745
|
N-W, 2 - 5
|
Day
|
Demi-cloudy, Without precipitates
|
27 - 29
|
742 - 744
|
U, 2 - 5
|
Evening
|
Demi-cloudy, Without precipitates
|
18 - 20
|
740 - 742
|
U-W, 2 - 5
|
23.1.2009
|
Weather
|
T (°C)
|
Pressure
|
Wind
|
Night
|
Demi-cloudy, Without precipitates
|
15 - 17
|
739 - 741
|
U-W, 1 - 3
|
Morning
|
Demi-cloudy, Without precipitates
|
25 - 27
|
738 - 740
|
U, 1 - 3
|
Population
The Republic of Moldova has a population of 3432831 and is one of the most densely populated European countries.
Moldova is populated by different ethnic groups. A breakdown of major ethnic groups is as follows: Moldovans – 64,5%, Ukrainians - 13,8 %, Russians – 13 %, others (Gagauzians, Bulgarians, Jews, Byelorussians, Germans, etc.).
A high ratio of the population lives in the rural area. The urban population represents 45 %. The major cities of Moldova include the capital city, Chisinau (over 755140 people); Balti (127603); Cahul (119 131); Hincesti (119569); Orhei (115828); Soroca (100490); Ungheni(110674); U.T.A. Gagauzia (155711). BR>
Languages
According to the constitution of the Republic of Moldova, the state language in Moldova is Moldavian, functioning on the Latin alphabet basis. As a state language, it is used in all political, economic, social and cultural domains, and is the inter-ethnic language of communication in Moldova.
The state language acts as the working language in the activity of all state bodies, state administration and public authorities. The translation into Russian is assured.
Russian along with Moldavian is used as a communication language among different nations.
In order to meet the national-cultural needs of ethnic groups inhabiting the territory of Moldova, the functioning of other languages, such as Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Jewish, Gypsy, etc. is guaranteed.
The most frequent spoken foreign languages are English, French, German and Italian.
Religion
The Republic of Moldova mainly comprises representatives of two worldwide religions: Christianity and Judaism. The first represented by about 1800 communities, the latter by 7 communities. The majority adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, which incorporates almost 95% of orthodox Christians out of the entire population of the country. They dispose of 1034 churches, 36 monasteries and 7 hermitages with approximately 5000 priests, deacons, curates, etc.
The head of the Orthodox Church of Moldova (Moldova’s Metropolitan) is His Grace Vladimir, the Metropolitan of Chisinau and all Moldova. The church is subdivided into 4 dioceses: Chisinau, Edinet and Briceni, Cahul and Lapusna, Dubasari and Tiraspol. An office of locum tenens operates in the city of Balti.
The religious personnel is mainly trained within the Chisinau Theological Academy, Theological Seminary (“Noul Neamt Monastery”, in Chitcani), the Spiritual Lyceum for girls (Suruceni Monastery), the Spiritual Lyceum for boys (“Nasterea Domnului” Monastery, in Zabriceni).
The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova guarantees the religious freedom of its citizens (art. 31). Each citizen has the right to share any religion, individually or in group, to spread this faith, to exercise their cult either in a private or public, as long as it does not contradict the Constitution and the law in force
Food and Drink
Moldova is rich in fertile soil and in hardworking and caring people. Nature is very generous in Moldova, offering plentiful grapes, fruits, vegetables, meat and milk products and cereals, all of which have found their uses in our national food. The fertile soil and the traditional agricultural methods make possible the cultivation of a diverse range of ecologically pure raw materials.
Moldovan cuisine has had a great influence on the traditional food of the other nationalities that live on this territory. At the same time some elements have been incorporated from Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Gagauzian and Russian cuisine, as well as elements taken some centuries ago from Greek and Turkish food.
The ingredients used in the traditional meals are: a variety of vegetables like tomatoes, green peppers, aubergines, white cabbage, beans, onions, garlic, etc. The vegetables are used for salads and sauces; they are baked, pickled, salted, and canned thus becoming a real food art. The maize and maize flour give a specific color to the traditional meals, like soups, biscuits, flakes, alcohol free drinks, etc. The most common is “mamaliga” – a maize porridge or polenta with a fine and delicious taste. "Mamaliga" is served together with diced meat, cheese, fried meat, cream, etc.
Meat cooked for the first and the second course has a special place in the Moldovan food. The most common are chicken soup, goulash, roast meat, grilled minced meat rolls, etc. A lot of meat courses are grilled over charcoal. But before the grilling procedure the meat is properly picked.
There is not a holiday without cabbage rolls, meat jelly, noodles, etc. The traditional table is not complete without biscuits, pies, cake dipped in syrup and fruit.
In different parts of Moldova there are local cuisines. In the East the Ukrainians prefer borsch, in the south the Bulgarians can offer a delicious chicken sauce – mangea, and the Gagauzians may serve you sorpa – a spicy ram soup, and the Russians will offer you their traditional pelmeni – a kind of roll stuffed with meat.
The Moldovan cuisine is served with a variety of traditional drinks: stewed fruits, juices, as well as alcoholic drinks like: wine, brandy, "tuica" – plum brandy, etc.
Wine growing in Moldova is a century-old tradition. The famous Moldovan wines are well known and appreciated at home and far beyond the country borders. The wines can be dry, sweet and strong, they have a varied bouquet of flavours and colours. For wine producing European vines are used such as: Sauvignon, Cabernet, Muscat, etc., as well as Moldovan varieties: Feteasca, Black Rara, Moldova, etc.
Strong drinks such as plum brandy, are produced using traditional methods.
Wine tastings are offered in most Moldovan cellars.
Traditions
Moldova is a European Country, which has a rich ethnic history. The majority of the population are Moldovans (Romanians), but the following national minorities live on this territory too: Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Gagauzians, Russians, Germans, Greeks, and others. In Moldova many traditions are centuries old. It is hard to believe that the multi-ethnic character of the country still exists within the popular traditions. What’s more it has enriched them with new qualities, giving them a new colour and transforming them into an original bunch of customs, rituals, and folklore present in Moldovan villages. In spite of the differences of nationalities, the people here have the most important quality – Hospitality. In Moldova every guest is received with a special warmth.
The householder will always serve his guest with great Moldovan wine and with the best dishes of food. Usually, the guests are invited into the "Casa Mare" (Big Room) – a traditional room in each house where people feast together. There are a lot of holidays in Moldova and everyone can join in them.
 The Winter Holidays, for instance, feature greetings cards, best wishes, plays performed by both children and adults from one door to another, thus announcing with joy the coming of the New Year. Everybody is looking forward to Santa Claus to come on a sleigh filled with presents. Especially children prepare themselves for this event: they put on different costumes and masks and perform in front of the Christmas tree. In fact, at that period the holidays, following the traditional agricultural calendar coincide with the Christian festival of Christmas.
Another very important traditional holiday is "Martisor" – the symbol of spring. In March everybody in Moldova hangs on their collar two knitted white and red ropes, which symbolize nature’s revival.
In Spring the most important holiday for our people is the Easter religions holiday. For this celebration people prepare in good time, they cook special food: Easter Cake and painted eggs and the best wine. In the course of time the painted eggs have become a handicraft art.
 A lot of traditional events in our country represent an amalgam of elements characteristic to the agricultural, religious and civil calendars, a mixture that was transformed in a permanent source of goodwill, warmth and hospitality in Moldova. During the holidays guests in Moldova can participate in a range of cultural events: concerts "Martisor", "Ciresar", "Maria Biesu Welcomes", etc., performances, parades, mass manifestations on Independence Day, on "Limba Noastra" Day, on towns or villages’ Day, etc. On Harvest Days traditional fairs are organized in towns and villages. Especially during these holidays, tourists can get closer to the national folk and handcraft art.
We cannot speak about Moldova without mentioning the traditions of a family nature: weddings, celebrations, etc., which become real shows performed by guests and hosts.
In Moldovan villages "sezatorile" are very traditional social meetings, especially in the winter, where people sing, dance, and make handicrafts.
It’s truly said that each guest in the "Casa Mare" of Moldova is a real friend.
Currency
The national currency, the Moldovan Leu, was introduced on the 29th of November 1993.
The National Bank of Moldova was established in 1991.
The current banknote series was introduced by NBM between 1993 and 1995.
Banknotes: ONE LEU; FIVE LEI; TEN LEI; TWENTY LEI; FIFTY LEI; ONE HUDRED LEI; TWO HUNDRED LEI, FIVE HUNDRED LEI.
 Coins: 1 bani; 5 bani; 10 bani; 25 bani; 50 bani. (1 Leu = 100 bani)
If you want to see the specimens of banknotes and coins access the web-site: www.bnm.org
|
| Currency |
Oficial rate (leis) |
Currency |
Oficial rate (leis) |
| AMD |
10 |
0.3732 |
AUD |
1 |
9.9222 |
| AZN |
1 |
13.3423 |
BGN |
1 |
8.5154 |
| BYR |
100 |
0.5257 |
CAD |
1 |
11.5310 |
| CHF |
1 |
10.0491 |
CNY |
1 |
1.5496 |
| CYP |
1 |
28.4415 |
CZK |
1 |
0.6260 |
| DKK |
1 |
2.2354 |
EEK |
1 |
1.0645 |
| EUR |
1 |
16.6708 |
GBP |
1 |
22.5964 |
| GEL |
1 |
7.1048 |
HRK |
1 |
2.2718 |
| HUF |
100 |
6.5640 |
ILS |
1 |
2.9413 |
| ISK |
10 |
1.8122 |
JPY |
100 |
10.0746 |
| KGS |
10 |
3.2246 |
KWD |
1 |
41.4150 |
| KZT |
10 |
0.9385 |
LTL |
1 |
4.8270 |
| LVL |
1 |
23.8858 |
NOK |
1 |
2.0946 |
| NZD |
1 |
8.7683 |
PLN |
1 |
4.6287 |
| RON |
1 |
4.6167 |
RSD |
1 |
0.2112 |
| RUB |
1 |
0.4627 |
SEK |
1 |
1.7690 |
| SKK |
1 |
0.4951 |
TJS |
1 |
3.2669 |
| TMM |
100 |
0.2177 |
TRY |
1 |
9.6692 |
| UAH |
1 |
2.2412 |
USD |
1 |
11.3183 |
| UZS |
1 |
0.0088 |
XDR |
1 |
17.8657 |
Official Holidays
| January 1 |
New Year |
| January 7 |
Orthodox Christmas |
| March 8 |
International Women’s Day |
| April 27 |
Orthodox Easter |
| May 1 |
International Labour Day |
| May 5 |
Memorial Easter |
| May 9 |
Victory Day (WW II) |
| August 27 |
NATIONAL DAY |
| August 31 |
Limba Noastra (National Language Day) |
|
