From 18-20 May 2024, Emma MacLennan (Deputy Head of the Technical Secretariat) and Levan Tevdoradze (Program Coordinator) travelled to Moldova to formally introduce the work of the Observatory to key road safety stakeholders and discuss how the EaP RSO can support Moldova’s plans to improve road safety.

High-level meetings included those with Prime Minister Dorin Recean, State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior Andrei Cecoltan, State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development Nicolai Mîndra, and UK Ambassador H.E. Fern Horine. All of whom welcomed the creation of the Observatory and offered their future support.

The first day of the visit included a workshop on the development of Moldova’s National Road Safety Programme, for which a policy concept and action plan was presented. The Programme's concept and vision are aligned to the Global Plan of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 and the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030. It also contains significant references to Moldova’s role in the EaP RSO and the need for data improvement, along with actions to rectify deficiencies. The Programme, which has been supported by three UN organisations in Moldova – WHO, UNICEF, and UNDP - is expected to be launched later this year.

The following day was dedicated to meetings related to the work of the EaP RSO. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs chaired a roundtable meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Ministry of Health, the Public Service Agency, the National Bureau of Statistics, the State Road Administration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Center for Prehospital Medical Assistance, the World Bank, the Technical University and the Automobile Club of Moldova.

A number of key agreements were made, including connecting the Moldovan crash database to the European CADaS database, which is of utmost significance.

The Technical Secretariat delegates then also visited the office of the National Inspectorate of Public Order, where they were introduced to the work of the Moldovan crash data collection system and Inspectorate representatives offered their support in sharing a detailed description of their database and its components, along with recent research, interviews, and articles with the Observatory.

On the final day, they visited Moldova’s ‘one call’ emergency service headquarters on the outskirts of Chisinau. Established in 2018, the ‘112 Service’ as it is known sits within the Ministry for Internal Affairs. It coordinates information on road crashes, as well as other emergencies, for the different Moldovan emergency response services: police, fire and ambulance. Within this remit, the Service collects extensive data of relevance to road safety. They were keen to work with the EaP RSO and to share the data that they gather to inform and improve road safety decision making in the county.

Overall, the visit was extremely fruitful and engaging. The Observatory delegates formed a number of good contacts and cemented agreements with key stakeholders and officials which will support the work of the EaP RSO.

The Observatory is extremely grateful to our County Consultant Tatiana Mihailova of the Automobile Club of Moldova for organising and facilitating all of these meetings.