Moldova

Ukrainian

Russian

GUAM

CIS

BSEC

**Moldova** or officially **Republic of Moldova** (Romanian:**Moldova**) is a country in Eastern Europe,stucked between Ukraine and Romania.

## History

Most of the Moldovan territory was a part of the Principality of Moldavia from the 14th century until 1812, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire by the Ottoman Empire (to which Moldavia was a vassal state) and became known as Bessarabia. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, which three years later united with Wallachia to form Romania, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the region in 1878. During the 1917 Russian Revolution, Bessarabia briefly became autonomous and then the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic until it was integrated into Romania in 1918 following a vote of its assembly. The decision was disputed by Soviet Russia, which in 1924 allowed the establishment, within the Ukrainian SSR, of a Moldavian autonomous republic (MASSR) on partial Moldovan-inhabited territories to the east of the Dniester. In 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, leading to the creation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR), which included the greater part of Bessarabia and the westernmost strip of the former MASSR.

On 27 August 1991, as the dissolution of the Soviet Union was under way, the Moldavian SSR declared independence and took the name Moldova. The Constitution of Moldova was adopted in 1994. The strip of the Moldovan territory on the east bank of the Dniester river has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.

Due to a decrease in industrial and agricultural output following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the service sector has grown to dominate Moldova's economy and is over 60% of the nation's GDP. Its economy is the poorest in Europe in per capita terms and has the lowest Human Development Index in the continent. Moldova is also the least visited country in Europe by tourists with only 11,000 annually recorded visitors from abroad.

Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime ministeras head of government. It is a member state of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and aspires to join the European Union.

## Modern-Day Moldova

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with its economy relying heavily on agriculture.

Two-thirds of Moldovans are of Romanian descent, and the two countries share a common cultural heritag

The industrialised territory to the east of the Dniester, generally known as Trans-Dniester or the Dniester region, was formally an autonomous area within Ukraine before 1940, when Soviet Union combined it with Bessarabia to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

This area is mainly inhabited by Russian- and Ukrainian-speakers. As people there became increasingly alarmed at the prospect of closer ties with Romania in the tumultuous twilight years of the Soviet Union, Trans-Dniester unilaterally declared independence from Moldova in 1990.

Fierce fighting followed. Trans-Dniester's independence has never been recognised and the region has existed in a state of limbo ever since.