President of the Vienna Provincial Parliament visits the Republic of Moldova

Head of the international department Chisinau Mihai Cebotar (left), mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban and Vienna Provincial Parliament President Ernst Woller (middle) and Austrian ambassador to Moldova Stella Avallone (second from the right)

During his two-day political and cultural trip to the Republic of Moldova, Provincial Parliament President Ernst Woller met with Ion Ceban, mayor of Moldova's capital Chisinau. Chisinau is home to around 600 000 inhabitants. Despite various challenges and burdens, numerous reforms and development projects aimed at improving government leadership, economic performance and social standards have been launched and put into place.

Woller introduced the project "Your Job in Moldova", which has recently been agreed on by the Vienna City Council. This project is a development policy model project, which will be implemented with help by the Caritas and aims to improve the professional qualification standards in Moldova's capital and the surrounding region. "Your Job in Moldova" strives to help vulnerable young jobseekers by means of individual counselling and support in job application processes, with the goal of successfully integrating them in the job market. Companies and their management executives are being motivated, to employ jobseekers from said group. Support is also offered to young business founders.

The City of Vienna delivers aid supplies to Moldova on a regular basis in the course of a humanitarian aid programme. Vienna's expertise on the subject of Smart Cities receives worldwide recognition and is also in demand in Moldova. Chisinau sends expert delegations to the City of Vienna on a regular basis.

"Austrian Night" at literature festival

Woller's visit to Moldova also included a visit of Sergiu Prodan, Moldova's Minister of Culture. In the course of the international literature festival FILIT, Ernst Woller held the opening speech on the festival's "Austrian Night". The Austrian author Franzobel was introduced, and Franzobel then faced a Q&A round from the predominantly young and interested festival audience.

Additional interesting talks were also held with representatives of the European network TRADUKI, which aids in connecting southeastern Europe with the German-speaking regions and its literary landscape by means of literature, translations and workshops for both authors and translators. The young curator Sarah Klimbacher-Cruz reported on her impressions and experiences so far. Klimbacher-Cruz is currently attending a three months stay in Chisinau as an Artist-in-Residence to develop art in public spaces. Her stay is supported by the City of Vienna and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs.