Moldovan American Diaspora convention

IOM Moldova recently co-organized high-profile diaspora engagement events in Washington DC on 17-19^th April.

On day 1, the 10^th edition of the Moldovan American Diaspora convention meeting took place in the Library of Congress of the USA / Thomas Jefferson Building, gathering high-profile speakers from the political and international development sectors in the USA and R. Moldova.

The Administrator of the USAID, Ms. Samantha Powers, Mr. Scott Nathan, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the US Congresswoman Mrs. Deborah Ross of North Carolina who co-chairs the Congressional Moldova Caucus with the USA Mr. Michael Lawler, a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Erin E. McKee, Assistant Administrator for the Europe & Eurasia Bureau, USAID joined their voices in support of Moldova’s democratic reform process, EU accession, combatting corruption and undue outside influence, highlighting the importance of diaspora as a factor of change and progress.

The event was joined by the Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, several state secretaries, the head of the export and investment promotion agency, several high-profile businessmen based in Moldova – and over a hundred active and well-established Moldovan diaspora members from the USA and Canada. On Day 2, the event continued with the Diaspora Business Forum, which was organized at the Army Navy Country Club, in Arlington.

The event started with a speech by the Deputy Prime Minister, who touched upon the country’s strategic development considerations and was joined by the Deputy Secretary General of NATO. The Business Forum continued with a discussion on the challenges, risks, and opportunities posed by the longer-term horizon of development of Moldova, concrete sectors, and opportunities for investing in Moldova were discussed, outlining the merits and risks.

The Chief of IOM Mission to Moldova, Mr. Lars Johann Lönnback praised the “transformative role the diaspora is playing for Moldova, in economic, democratic, and political, social development areas, noting the importance of both financial and “democratic” remittances, contribution to reforms and EU accession through returns and expertise sharing”.

IOM Moldova, under the Joint Migration MPTF program, supports the diaspora engagement work, contributing to the organization of the event in DC, incl. via facilitating the organization of a panel on engaging the Moldovan diaspora in the USA for business development, trade, and investment in Moldova. The event featured IOM’s work and experience in engaging the diaspora’s resources for development.

More details can be found in the links below: