Moldova - education
The school system plays a major role in building the country's
independence. From the early 1990's, education has been oriented towards Romanian
rather than towards Soviet-Russian conditions, and Moldovan has replaced Russian
as the language of instruction.
The public school system includes a compulsory ten-year primary school for
6-16-year-olds, while further education takes place at the country's 53
technical colleges and nine higher education institutions, including the
country's university (1997).
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Moldova
CAPITAL CITY: Chisinau
POPULATION: 4,470,000 (Source: COUNTRYaah)
AREA: 33,700 km²
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (S): the Romanian dialect Moldovan, Ukrainian, Russian, others
RELIGION: Moldovan Orthodox 65%, Russian Orthodox 10%, Catholics 2%, Protestants 2%,
Jews 2%, others 19%
COIN: leu
CURRENCY CODE: MDL
ENGLISH NAME: Moldova
INDEPENDENCE: 1991
POPULATION COMPOSITION: Moldovans 65%, Ukrainians 14%, Russians 13%, Gagus 4%, Bulgarians 2%, others
2%
GDP PER residents: 429 $ (2007)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 65 years, women 72 years (2007)
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, HDI: 0.694
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, POSITION: 114
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .md
According to DIGOPAUL, Moldova
is a republic in south-eastern Europe on the rivers Prut and Dniester,
an ancient border country with cultural and economic ties to Romania, Russia and
Ukraine; In 1940-91, the Moldovan Soviet Republic was
part of the Soviet Union. In the context of ethnic-national strife over
independence, the eastern part of the country seceded under the name of
the Dniester Republic. The conflict remains unresolved, and thus, as of 2006,
the Moldovan government does not have sovereignty over the entire territory of
the state. The country is one of Europe's poorest and corruption is
widespread. The IMF provides loans to combat poverty, but the country has
difficulty meeting the conditions. The World Trade Organization (WTO) took
over Moldova in 2001.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Find two-letter abbreviation for each
independent country and territory, such as MD which stands for Moldova.
Moldova - Constitution
In 1994, the Republic of Moldova got its first post - Soviet
constitution. Its purpose was to secure and develop the country's ethnic and
linguistic identity, as well as to establish the country's permanent
neutrality. Legislative power lay with the 104 members of parliament, who were
elected for four years by direct election. The president, who was elected for a
four-year term by direct election, shared executive power with the government,
which was headed by a prime minister.
In 2000, Parliament adopted a series of amendments to the Constitution, which
entailed an increase in Parliament's power at the expense of Presidential
power. Parliament is still elected for four years, but now has only 101
members. The president is now elected by at least 3/5 (= 61) of the members of
parliament and can only sit for two terms of four years. He may, under certain
circumstances, dissolve parliament and call a referendum on important national
issues. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President after consultations
with the various factions of Parliament. The Prime Minister then obtains
Parliament's approval of his program and his list of ministers, on which the
President appoints the government. All in all, the government has been
strengthened, the Prime Minister has taken over the management of the executive
branch.
Moldova - religion
The majority of the population belongs to the Moldovan Orthodox Church,
led by the metropolitan of Kishinev and Moldova under the patriarchy of
Moscow. In 1992, part of the church broke with Moscow. Under the name of the Bessarabian
Church, it sought resumption in the Romanian Bucharest Patriarchate,
to which the Church in Moldova had belonged before World War II. Other
denominations include the Old Believers, the Orthodox Church, the Armenian
Church, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostal churches, Molokans, and Jews.
Moldova - literature
From the 1300's. letters and documents written in Old Slavic have been
preserved. In the following centuries, a highly developed history writing
emerged. Chronicle writers such as Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin and Ion Neculce
(1672-1745) became the first sources and role models of fiction. Until the
1900's. was the Moldovan literature in fact coinciding with the Romanian. But
after 1924, "bourgeois Romanian" literature was declared the antithesis of the
"progressive Moldovan" that appeared in magazines such as Moldova Literare.
After the thaw, Moldovan village literature became an important forum for
cultural and social debate. Prominent representatives are Anatoli Gujel (b.
1922), Ariadna Salari (b. 1923) and Ion Druta (b. 1928), who have made a name
for themselves with novels such as Sorgens blad (1957) and Vor
ungdoms fugle (1972), but also with his disrespectful attitude towards the
Russian "big brother". Since the mid-1980's, in particular, the younger
generation of writers has begun to search back to the Romanesque roots and to
orient themselves towards French literature.
Moldova - wine
With about 150 million. bottles a year, Moldova is one of the most important
former Soviet republics in terms of wine production. From a wine area of just
under 200,000 ha, large quantities of sparkling wine and liqueur wines are
produced. Exports are dominated by wines of French grape varieties, cabernet
sauvignon and merlot for red wines and chardonnay and sauvignon
blanc for the whites. Over 50% of the vineyards still belong to state
farms, and most wineries have by Western standards obsolete equipment. The
increased privatization has raised the quality, and the Australian wine house
Penfolds and the British Hugh Ryman (b. 1961) have created solid wines of good
quality.
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