Moldovan president, at Connectivity Platform meeting: “Together and connected, even small countries are safer”

President Maia Sandu today in Chisinau opened the high-level meeting of the Connectivity Platform dedicated to digital connectivity. The event focused on advancing regional projects and investments along the Middle Corridor, the transport and data route linking Europe to Central Asia via the Black Sea, the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.

The meeting, organized jointly with the European Commission, was also attended by Prime Minister Vasile Tofan, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and representatives of governments, international financial institutions and the business community from the European Union, the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus, Turkey and Central Asia.

Two projects dedicated to Moldova were announced during the meeting: the WIFI4Moldova initiative, which will provide free internet access in 30 communities, and funding for a feasibility study for a data center in Moldova, with the support of Swedfund, Sweden’s development finance institution.

In her speech, the head of state emphasized that peace in Europe was built on connectivity. “Countries whose power lines, roads and cables meet have a shared interest in each other’s peace. Alone, even the powerful are vulnerable. Together and connected, even small countries are safer,” President Maia Sandu said.

The head of state noted that Russia’s war against Ukraine had redrawn the map of routes between Europe and Asia, while the Middle Corridor had become Europe’s route to the East, for both goods and data. Moldova is located at the western end of this corridor, where it enters the European Union, between Romania, an EU member state, and Ukraine. “Whatever you build here reaches both markets: the European Union today and Ukraine, when the time for reconstruction comes,” the Moldovan president said.

At the same time, the head of state drew attention to cybersecurity, in a context where artificial intelligence is being used to launch increasingly rapid and inexpensive attacks on power grids, banks and hospitals. “Everything we connect must also be protected,” the president said. She proposed that attacks be reported among countries that share the same values and that states unable to afford their own rapid-response teams should be able to rely on the support of their partners.