The former Prime Minister of Moldova and former ambassador of Moldova to Moscow, Dumitru Braghiș, has been appointed as Moldova’s ambassador to China. At the same time, Ion Stavila will be the ambassador of Moldova in Estonia. The appointments were made during the Government’s meeting on June 17.

Dumitru Braghiş was prime minister from December 1999 until April 2001. He also ran for President (when the Parliament was electing the President of the country) but was defeated by Vladimir Voronin. In 2005, he run for the position of mayor of Chișinău, winning only 20 percent of the votes.

In 2005, he became a deputy on the lists of the Democratic Moldova Bloc. After his term as a deputy expired, he began working in the private sector, developing businesses. 

He was a director at Vimax Consulting, a deputy director at Accent Electronic company and a director at UTI Systems International company, in the IT field. At the end of 2015, Braghiş was appointed Ambassador of Moldova to Russia. Now, Braghiș was appointed as Moldova’s ambassador to China. 

At the same time, Ion Stavila will be Moldova’s ambassador to Estonia.

From 2001 to 2004, Stăvilă was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova. During 2004-2006 he was deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Moldova in Ukraine. In 2006-2009 he held the position of Deputy Minister of Reintegration of Moldova.

From July 2010 to June 3, 2015, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Moldova to Ukraine and by cumulation to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

President Igor Dodon is reshuffling Moldova’s diplomatic service, recalling and appointing new ambassadors abroad. On June 5, Dodon recalled Moldova’s ambassadors to Canada, Austria, and Romania. 

Previously, Dodon appointed new ambassadors to seven European states. Currently, Moldova has new ambassadors in Turkey, Latvia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, and Italy. 

The decision to reshuffle Moldova’s diplomatic service comes months after Dodon criticized Moldova’s ambassadors for wasting public money abroad. Moldova’s diplomatic service is still developing. Subsequently, Moldova has a small number of ambassadors by profession. Most of Moldova’s ambassadors are coming from the political field, being former deputies or members of governments.