At the end of the year, President Maia Sandu came with a congratulatory message and urged everyone to call them, hug their loved ones and welcome 2023 with the hope that it will be a “beginning for each of us”. The head of state emphasized that in 2022, with the war, “worry was left in every house”, but our country chose “kindness instead of fear”. The president also listed the successes of the Republic of Moldova this year and said that everyone can make a difference for Moldova to succeed.
“As the years pass, we choose to be near the closest people in our lives, because we want to share the hope and joy of this evening with those we love. We appreciate more the value of these moments that we have learned sometimes through too hard experiences.
Many people tonight will feel an emptiness where there used to be the joy of hugging a loved one. The pandemic took many of us, and then the war started which brought a lot of suffering.
Moldovans have seen up close the horrors of the war in the neighboring country. Worry was left in every home in Moldova, but our country chose kindness instead of fear. We united and offered help”, Maia Sandu mentioned.
“Tonight, I will not tell you how difficult the year that is ending has been, you know very well. You lived it with all its hardships, hoping now that it ends and leaves room for a gentler year, a 2023 with new opportunities and beautiful emotions. 2022 was a year that tested us and showed us who we are. Today, at the end of the year, we can choose to see the difficulties in our path or we can choose to see what we have made of these difficulties, what kind of people we have decided to become.
I know well that today, families will enjoy the accomplishments of their loved ones. Someone gave birth to a child, someone learned to walk, someone got the desired job, some became grandparents, others won medals at the Olympics. It’s a good time to remember what we did well this year and let us all, as a country, celebrate Moldova’s successes.
This year, the Republic of Moldova won gold at the World Wrestling Championship, Anastasia Nichita writing history for our country, and Serghei Tarnovschi brought home the gold medal from the World Sprint Canoe Championship. During 2022, the flag of the Republic of Moldova was hoisted numerous times on the winners’ podium: both in judo, and in biathlon, and in Latin dances. The athlete Oleg Crețul also brought gold from the European Paralympic Judo Championship for the blind, and the Moldovans won silver, bronze and honorable mentions at the international mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology Olympiads.
Our country is the most awarded country in Eastern Europe at quality wine competitions.
Also in 2022, 5 Moldovan students won gold at the World Robotics Olympiad, and the Moldovan chess team achieved a sensational result, ranking Moldova 6th in the world at the World Chess Olympiad.
In 2022, the first Moldovan satellite, created by UTM researchers, was launched into space.
In 2022, the high-top shirt, which tells the story of our nation and which we wear with pride, was included by UNESCO in the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
In 2022, we had the joy of celebrating and wishing the masters Eugen Doga, Spiridon Vangheli and Vladimir Beșleăgă a happy birthday. Let us be proud to be contemporaries of their reigns.
We sang together and experienced the joy of being together among the first 7 at the Eurovision competition with the famous song “Trenulețul”, performed by Zdob and Zdub, and the Advahov brothers.
This year, we were accepted as a candidate country for joining the European Union. It is a recognition of the successes of the Moldovans, but also a hope that we will build at home European hospitals, modern schools and kindergartens, quality roads, we will have higher salaries and pensions, a justice system that works and a true democracy.
Thousands of firefighters, rescue workers, doctors and police have saved lives and protected people from danger this year. Thousands of teachers, educators, learners were with their students, guiding them and supporting them to believe in themselves.
We honor and reward many. The names of many of those who make Moldova beautiful remain unknown. Wherever you are now, look at those around you. Certainly, each of them has done good for our country, for our peers and made us proud that Moldova is our home. Thank them, I thank you all,” said the head of state.
“We still have a lot to do. We have all seen what we can do when we act as a community and how much we lose if we act on the principle of every man for himself.
Yes, things don’t always happen the way we want them to. Unfortunately, some tragedies cannot be prevented. There are sufferings that happen no matter how honest and brave we are. We, from Moldova, a small country, cannot change the world order or major things at the international level, but we can make a difference. Remaining in good faith in the most critical situations makes a difference, helping someone in need, showing courage when fear grips all, showing kindness, being dignified and defending our freedom make a difference.
A firefighter who puts out a fire makes a difference, a policeman who prevents an accident, an official who helps a citizen, a writer who brings us another good book, a judge who applies the law, a doctor who saves a life makes a difference. A farmer who grows healthy produce, an entrepreneur who creates a job, a teacher who changes a destiny makes a difference.
If we look at things that way, it doesn’t seem impossible to succeed. We just have to make a difference where we are, and I am convinced that Moldova will succeed thanks to you, wonderful people of Moldova. We will succeed in the years to come.
Let’s welcome 2023 with modesty, with gratitude and with the hope that it is a beginning for our country, a beginning for each of us. Go with gratitude to your loved ones, call them, hug them, enjoy each other. Happy birthday, dear people, happy birthday!” added the president, in his speech on New Year’s Eve 2023.
