Foreign Operations Assistance: Moldova

United States Department of State
Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia
Foreign Operations Assistance Fact Sheet, April 2012*

MOLDOVA

United States government (USG) assistance aims to help Moldova strengthen its democratic institutions, increase prosperity, secure its internationally recognized borders, and integrate with Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community.

Recent Successes by Areas of Focus:

Peace & Security

• U.S. support for justice reform strengthened the role of prosecutors in overseeing trafficking in persons (TIP) investigations, strengthened inter-ministerial cooperation on TIP, and identified due process violations in TIP cases that criminal justice professionals are beginning to address through procedural guidelines. The State Department’s annual TIP Report raised Moldova from the Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2, in part due to progress made on this issue with USG assistance.
• USG support for defense reform and NATO-certified peacekeeping capability has shown indirect benefits. Moldova is currently participating through bilateral agreements in several international peacekeeping missions. Members of a Moldovan Air Force helicopter contingent in Afghanistan in support of UN operations were trained through U.S. programs.
• Counter proliferation training by the U.S. Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) office and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for officers of Moldova’s Ministry of Internal Affairs contributed to the arrests of six people suspected of smuggling enriched uranium in June 2011 in Chisinau. On July 19, 2011, a Joint Action Plan was signed in Chisinau between the USG and the Government of Moldova to combat the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials.

Governing Justly and Democratically

• BY ACCOUNT	FY 2011 ACTUAL	FY 2012 ESTIMATE	FY 2013 REQUEST
  TOTAL ($000s)	$22,295	$23,400	$19,680
  Assistance for Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia	$19,500	$21,000	0
  Economic Support Fund	0	0	$14,050
  Foreign Military Financing	$1,497	$1,250	$1,250
  International Military Education and Training	$898	$750	$750
  International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement	0	0	$3,230
  Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related Programs	$400	$400	$400

  With USG assistance, 476 residents from Transnistria participated in 45 training sessions on democratic processes such as public debate, consensus-building and effective communication.
• USG programs supported a strategy for bar association development as well as curriculum development and training for lawyers—including in the area of trial advocacy—all of which have advanced the implementation of a mandatory continuing legal education mechanism for the bar and begun to strengthen lawyers’ ability to hold Moldovan officials accountable.
• U.S. programs worked with Moldovan non-governmental organizations to ensure comprehensive monitoring for the constitutional referendum and parliamentary elections held in 2010. U.S. programs partnered with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to train officials at all levels on new election procedures, considerably improving electoral management performance compared to Moldova’s 2009 elections. As a result, society widely trusted the outcomes of the referendum and elections, and the CEC improved its standing as a trusted and professional public institution.
• USG-funded grants to civil society fostered increased civic participation, government accountability, and democratic political processes, and monitored the implementation of reforms in key sectors.

Economic Growth

• BY OBJECTIVE	FY 2011 ACTUAL	FY 2012 ESTIMATE	FY 2013 REQUEST
  TOTAL ($000s)	$22,295	$23,400	$19,680
  Peace and Security	$4,440	$3,937	$4,062
  Governing Justly and Democratically	$9,745	$10,870	$8,625
  Economic Growth	$7,360	$7,893	$6,793
  Humanitarian Assistance	$750	$700	$200

  Moldova’s jump of 18 places in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Survey demonstrated significant progress on many fronts in FY 2011. U.S. assistance supported important anti-corruption reforms in the area of business regulation and taxation. In April 2011, a law on increasing protection for investors drafted with USG help passed in Parliament. A system for providing on-line access to local laws and regulations was developed and deployed, and is currently being adopted by municipalities around the country.
• During FY 2011, USG-assisted enterprises increased their sales by 7 percent, despite weak economic performance in Europe, Moldova’s largest export market.
• USG programs helped 313 high value agriculture (HVA) farmers increase their incomes by lowering production costs, increasing marketable output, and capturing better prices as they learned to adopt new technologies and practices that allowed them to better satisfy end market demands.
• U.S. programs are providing $800,000 in laboratory equipment, as well as equipment for phytosanitary inspectors and border inspection stations to enhance capacity to accurately test and certify HVA produce.
• During FY 2011, U.S. assistance supported a Ministry of Economy process which inventoried 450 public acts in order to delete those deemed unnecessary, thus streamlining and lessening the arbitrariness of the bureaucratic regulatory regime. Following the inventory, in July 2011, Parliament passed a law which eliminated 178 of these.

Humanitarian Assistance

• USG assistance to vulnerable populations in 2011 supported two small reconstruction projects providing structural repair to a school and a children’s hospital, and also delivered 19 surface containers of donated medical and non-medical assistance valued at $3.47 million.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Coordinator's Office Annual Reports
U.S. Embassy Website
www.foreignassistance.gov
Millennium Challenge Corporation

*This fact sheet does not reflect Peace Corps funding or centrally managed or regional Foreign Operations funding that is not specifically budgeted for Moldova.