​PRESIDENT IGOR DODON RECEIVES NEW FOREIGN MINISTER NICOLAE POPESCU

On Tuesday, Moldova President Igor Dodon discussed questions of Moldova’s foreign policy with the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Nicolae Popescu.

The meeting took place after the new minister, appointed to the post last Saturday, had been sworn in today. The swearing-in ceremony was held in the Presidential Office because until the last moment Popescu was in Paris, completing his work in international organizations.

“I regard Mr. Popescu to be a high professional, and Prime Minister Maya Sandu’s proposal on nominating his candidacy for the ministerial post to be a correct personnel decision “, Dodon wrote on his Facebook page today.

The President expressed hope for a close cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration under the new leadership, and expressed a deep regret about a practically full absence of whatever interaction between the Presidential Administration and the Ministry under the previous minister, Tudor Ulianovschi.

“In this context, I stressed the need for analyzing the activities of some of Moldovan Ambassadors, who are misinforming our external partners about the political processes developing in our republic. Nicolae Popescu remarked that the ambassadorial status compels diplomats to represent their native country as a whole and not a certain Moldovan political party, as this is happening presently”, wrote President Dodon.

The interlocutors discussed questions of conducting a well-balanced foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova, “and particularly emphasized the importance of preserving in force all the international agreements concluded by Moldova, including with the European Union. Besides this, we confirmed the objective interest our country feels towards restoring its full-fledged partnership with the Russian Federation”.

Nicolae Popescu graduated from Moscow State Institute of Foreign Affairs (MGIMO, the country’s second prestigious-most higher educational institution after Moscow State University, MGU) and from Central European University at Budapest with a Master’s Degree. Popescu worked at the European Politics Center in Brussels, at the European Council for External Policy in London, at the Paris-based European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), read lectures at University of Barcelona. In 2010-2013 he was Foreign Political Adviser to Prime Minister of Moldova.