Good afternoon, friends!

Generally, I wanted to limit myself to personal observations for myself and fragmentarily for those nearby, but after thinking again, I agreed with a friend's argument – people in our society need more information for reflection and conclusions. So I will tell, and you reflect...

Over the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to attend two different-format but similar in meaning events – public hearings organized by the Government of the Republic of Moldova on our country's Development Plan in the context of receiving 1.9 billion euros from the EU, and the Chisinau Economic Forum, organized by the private sector under the patronage of descendants of the Romanian royal family. At both, I dedicated a full day of my time; at the first event, I listened carefully to everyone, at the second – to half of everyone (due to some panels running simultaneously, and I chose the most interesting ones for myself from the perspective of comparing what I heard with what I had heard before).

The general conclusion from everything – Moldova is being fixed in a state of helplessness. And this is not normal.

At the hearings, I found it strange to hear advice from economists of the well-known research center "Expert-Grup" that conditions in the world have changed, and now our country needs to focus on... added value! To be honest, the added value of a product is an implied concept if we are talking about economic development at all, and such advice could be given by any 1st or 2nd-year university student, but there was more to come – added value began to be voiced by the government as part of a new state vision (see photo from some intermediate event, taken from the internet).

A natural question arises – why, for years, methodically bring the economy to a fractional state and 0.1% GDP growth, consistently removing entire industries from functionality (in particular, agriculture and industry), only to then, predictably finding ourselves in turbulence and even recession and under the influence of a sudden impulse from the new US economic policy, come to the basic truths that one cannot live like this? Was it impossible to understand this without an impulse? And that we need to return to the basics? And not just that, but while simultaneously forming, in the mass consciousness, a sense of breakthrough? On the way to what?.. The word "strategy" was not heard at the hearings; to my question "What kind of Republic of Moldova are we forming?" there was no substantive answer.

And another question, based on the attached photo with the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Moldova – how can one link such differently-leveled concepts in terms of thinking as "added value" and "innovations" in one line in the 21st century? Innovations already imply a non-raw material economy, but a certain stage of development and a flight of scientific and technical thought not at the level of a school bench. Against the backdrop of the destroyed Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova, the dissonance is especially noticeable.

The second oddity was that very few people speak aloud about the development of Moldova specifically. And the masses – there were over 100 people at the hearings, over 500 at the forum – proceed from the idea of mastering budgets. People have no understanding of what kind of Republic of Moldova managers and society are forming, there is no project map clearly showing the logic and interconnection of actions, nothing is said about the effects for the Republic of Moldova and its people from every leu invested in the Moldovan economy, no sense of pride in one's country – the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders is being formed; the discourse constantly introduces a feeling of temporariness and the inevitability of disappearance from the world map through negative practices – absorption, destruction, attack, etc., the planning horizon of those in power for years and decades is limited to short intervals of electoral periods, institutional memory is being hollowed out, on the basis of the denied rich own history of one's own country, a new frail sprout of momentary benefits is cultivated each time... As a result, we have not just an economic catastrophe, but also a demographic failure; society is being formed as Ivans who do not remember kinship or tumbleweeds, and we see the level of expert advice no deeper than student thought.

This is the bottom.

Is this sought after or did it happen according to someone's karma?

The words "money is coming to us, how can we master it? Such an amount is frightening. How to write projects so the money doesn't float by?" indicate that with such a formulation of questions, there will definitely be no development. Firstly, money as a goal never leads to development. And secondly, because there is no answer to the main thing – for whom and for what is everything being done? Yes, our value is the wonderful people of Moldova, but how many of them remain in Moldova itself? Over 35 years, the population has halved. What values are valuable to our people today? What exactly makes us unique as a country and its multinational people? What distinguishes us from other peoples? What is the breakthrough nature of our economy? And of life? Etc.

It is the trend towards uniqueness that is shaping societies and states today. And the tendency will only strengthen over the years. I have been saying this myself for a long time, and this is exactly what I heard now from the only participant in the speeches – the Ambassador of Malta to Bucharest, President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce, Roberto Musneci. Not a Moldovan, but a foreigner. He was the only one who said that paradigms have shifted, that there is a demand for a new understanding of the economy, that uniqueness will be increasingly in demand... It was visible that he was peering into the audience, losing hope and looking for at least some understanding of what he said, because something important was said and said as it should have been said. Roberto, I heard you. And this means my day was not lived in vain. And together with me, everyone who reads and hears me heard you. You are not alone. Come to our country more often...

Another valuable phrase that caught my attention was also spoken by a non-citizen of ours – "how much can you take? Start creating already."

Start...

A very good message to our state.

Summarizing – I could tell you some more details of observations, but this is enough for reflection – I will probably make a paradoxical conclusion. It would have been really bad if I hadn't heard a single sound remark throughout these two events. Precisely from our people. But no, I heard them too. People approached me, saying that there is a demand in society for logic, thinking, our selfhood, and a strategy for development itself, not just talk about it.

And that means the hope that Roberto was looking for in the hall is not lost. And we are not helpless creatures.

Reflect on this.

And try to answer each point of this publication for yourself or aloud. I am interested in listening to you... and considering the growth points for Moldova and all of us that you have seen.

Have a good day everyone!

Best regards, Elena Radu,
"INBRASA".

Chisinau,
04/08/2025.