Aid

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has promised 77 million euros (77.2 million dollars) to help Moldova cope with the fallout of the Ukraine conflict.

The conflict is ahead of a donor conference in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Friday.

The money was to be used to cushion rising energy prices, promote renewable energies and provide for refugees that Moldova is  hosting from neighbouring Ukraine.

Baerbock said the aid for the ex-Soviet republic, which bordered Ukraine and Romania, was intended as a clear signal that Europe would not allow itself to be divided.

The majority of the money,  40 million euros was to benefit private households in order to cushion drastically increased energy prices.

Some 20 million euros is  to be put into the expansion of renewable energies and the promotion of efficient energy use.

Meanwhile, 17 million euros would go to help the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian war refugees that Moldova had taken in, Baerbock’s delegation said.

In addition, the country would receive material aid, for example, video drones, all-terrain vehicles or document-checking equipment for border protection.

The funds needed to be signed off by the Bundestag, however, before they could be disbursed.

Like Ukraine, Moldova had been an official EU membership candidate since June.

The country had taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began at the end of February.

Representatives of 24 countries were due to attend the donor conference in Bucharest on Friday.

During her visit to Romania, Baerbock also planned to visit the Black Sea port of Constanța.

One of the proposed alternative hubs for the export of Ukrainian grain had not been possible from Ukrainian ports since the war began.