Moldovan premier says Integration of minorities, national unity - one of government's priorities

Chisinau, 2 June /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici met Bureau for Inter-ethnic Relations (BRI) General Director Elena Beleacova. The discussions focused on drafting the Strategy of integration of national minorities for 2015-2020 and the Action Plan on supporting the Romany residents of Moldova for the 2016-2020, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

"One of the priorities of the government I lead is national unity. We have many challenges in this respect, but the present reality shows the need to adopt policies to promote national unity and integration into society. In the absence of such policies, there is a danger for certain ethnic groups to become isolated from the rest of the society. Moldova is very diverse in terms of ethnicity. Therefore, we must create conditions for strengthening civic affiliation and integration of national minorities, at the same time, protecting their culture, traditions, and language", said Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici.

Moreover, the premier asked the BRI director to submit, as soon as possible, an action plan on the integration of ethnic minorities for the second half of this year, as well as the financial resources needed for its implementation.

For her part, the BRI director informed the prime minister that the draft for the Strategy of integration of national minorities would be completed by mid-July. According to Elena Beleacova, the document was worked out by BRI, with the support of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The strategy sets the medium-term objectives (6 years), in accordance with international treaties, as well as recommendations of EU, United Nations, OSCE.

As for the support of the Romany people in Moldova, Elena Beleacova said that it was necessary to provide educational support for the Romany residents, especially the possibility to study Romanian.

In this regard, Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici said the inauguration of educational resource centres for the Romany community was needed; here they could study the Romanian language, participate in training courses, IT literacy, as well as social integration.

Referring to social policies, the prime minister specified that the latter must be fair to all population groups, including the Romany, who must enjoy the same policies and strategies as the rest of the residents.

(Editor M. Jantovan)