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Sweden has channeled EUR 26 million ($27.4 million) into Moldova’s energy sector to support vulnerable households through the winter and contribute to long-term energy efficiency and expansion of infrastructure in the country.
“Moldova has been severely affected by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With this support package, we will help Moldova at this critical stage. The support will help vulnerable households survive the winter” Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Johan Forssell said in a press release by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Of the EUR 26 million in total support, EUR 17 million ($17.9 million) will go to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support its work in Moldova. EUR 9 million ($9.5 million) will go to the energy fund that Moldova and the United Nations Development Program established to support vulnerable households through the winter.
The ministry said in the media release that Sweden is one of the largest bilateral development assistance donors for Moldova, having provided almost EUR 17 million ($17.9 million) in ongoing reform support in 2023. The long-term reform efforts are based on Moldova’s closer ties with the EU and are focused on democracy, human rights, gender equality, peaceful development, market economy development and the environment and climate, according to the ministry.
According to the information from the International Energy Agency (IEA), only around 25 percent of Moldova’s energy demand is covered by domestic production, consisting almost entirely of solid biomass and variable renewable energy sources. Moldova imports 100 percent of its gas and coal consumption, nearly all of its oil consumption and around 80 percent of its electricity, including electricity procured from the Moldavskaya GRES power station situated in Transnistria, a breakaway strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine, according to the IEA.
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