At 36 Natalia Solcan is one of the capital’s youngest ambassadors. That’s not to say she is short of experience.

Trained as a lawyer, Solcan has extensive knowledge of her country’s two main foreign policy objectives: membership of the European Union and the re-integration of breakaway Transdniestrian region into the country.

The Ambassador arrives in London, having spent the past two years in charge of political cooperation with the EU within the foreign ministry’s Department of European Integration.

Prior to that she spent two years in Brussels working to implement the reforms outlined in the EU’s Action Plan for Moldova, signed in 2004, which is now delivering good results, she adds: “In the latest EU Commission progress report on Moldova there was no mention of the word ‘deficiency’, which is a great success for our efforts.”

The last year Moldova further improved its European credentials by holding the presidency of no less than five regional cooperation organisations in South East Europe; it was granted asymmetrical trade preferences with the EU; and the visa facilitation and readmission agreement with the EU came into force.

The year ended with the EU launching an ‘Eastern Partnership’ with the Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, which promises free trade agreements, integration in the EU economy and easier travel to the EU through visa liberalisation.

While Moldova welcomes the measures contained in the Eastern Partnership, it’s no secret that the country is seeking a more ambitious bilateral agreement with the EU to replace the Action Plan.

“We are looking for an advanced agreement which would take the form of an Association Agreement with a clear European prospective,” says Solcan. “We don’t need a precise date for EU membership, but we would like some encouragement to give us a boost to continue our reforms. We see our destiny within the EU, no matter how much time or effort it takes.”

The Ambassador says almost 80% of the population supports EU integration and the reform programme, which has continued apace in spite of a severe drought and floods.

The prospect of EU membership might have the effect of encouraging a solution to the unresolved Transdniestrian conflict adds the Ambassador.

The recent flare-up between Russia and Georgia in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia has redoubled efforts to re-integrate Transdniestria, a sliver of land bordering the Ukraine which unilaterally declared its independence from Moldova in 1990 and has been a hotbed for smuggling in the past.

Currently the negotiations are taking a 5+2 format, with the OSCE, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia and Transdniestria, plus the EU and the US as observers. “The conflict doesn’t have an ethnic or a religious basis,” says Solcan. “So we hope there is enough political will from all sides for a viable solution.”

With Russian troops still stationed in the region, a good working partnership with Russia is key. Relations have had their ups and downs in the past, with Russia imposing embargos on Moldovan wine exports and hiking up the price of gas, but these issues have been resolved.

Now the Ambassador hopes the last remaining Russian troops will withdraw and that the EU’s Border Assistance Mission between Moldova and the Ukraine, which has shown good results, will be extended until a solution is found.

As for her mission in London, the Ambassador has three main objectives. Her first is to secure a visa facilitation agreement with the UK, similar to the one Moldova enjoys with the rest of the EU. “This will boost our economic and trade ties as well as people to people contacts,” explains Solcan.

She’s also like Brits to visit her country to enjoy rural tourism and visit Moldova’s world famous 120km underground network of wine cellars, the largest in the world.

Also on the agenda is strengthening trade and economic links between the two countries where Moldova can act as a bridge between the CIS and Europe.

A British-Moldova Business Association has been established and the Ambassador is in the process of organising an economic forum where business people on both sides can meet and discuss opportunities in the wine industry, agriculture or steel and cement industries.

The Ambassador wants to enhance dialogue with Britain on every level to share best practice in a variety of fields, from political dialogue, to sectoral issues such as economy, trade, and technical training in areas such as the media or customs.

All this doesn’t leave her much time for the PhD she is writing, or to pursue her passion for gardening, but the seeds of cooperation the Ambassador plants will surely bear fruit.