Moldova is a small land-locked country in Eastern Europe, north of Balkans, surrounded by Romania to the southwest, across the Prut river, and Ukraine to the northeast. The capital of Moldova is Chişinău. The local language is Romanian, based on the Latin alphabet, but Russian is widely used. Moldova is a multiethnic republic that has suffered from violent ethnic conflict. In 1994, this conflict led to the creation of the self-proclaimed Transnistria Republic in eastern Moldova, which has its own government and currency but is not recognized by any other country. Economic links have been re-established between these two parts of Moldova despite failure in political negotiations. The major religion in Moldova is Orthodox Christian.

Moldova's population is occupied mainly in food production and processing. Once known as "the garden" of the Soviet Union, Moldova has now lost most of its traditional Russian markets for agricultural products and is exploring new international markets.

History

Formerly part of Romania, Moldova was forcefully incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of World War II.

• Independence - 27 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
• National holiday - Independence Day, 27 August (1991)
• Constitution - new constitution adopted 28 July 1994; replaces old Soviet constitution of 1979

Although independent from the USSR since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Dniester River supporting the minority population, mostly Ukrainians and Russians, who have proclaimed a "Transnistria" republic.

The poorest nation in Europe, Moldova became the first European (former Soviet) state to elect a communist government and president in 2001.

• Gay Rights - Thanks to the hard labor of a gay rights group called 'Genderdoc' Moldova now has a very liberal law on gay rights. Even though the population in general is not that liberal towards this issue.