Moldova /mldov/,[nb 1][nb 2] officially the Republic of

Moldova (Romanian: Republica Moldova pronounced [republika moldova] (

listen)), also known as Moldavia,[10] is a country in Eastern

Europe, landlocked between Romania to the west andUkraine to the north,

east and south.[11] The capital city is Chiinu.
Moldova declared itself an independent state in 1991 as part of
the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A new constitution was adopted in
1994. A strip of Moldovan territory on the east bank of the
river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway
government of Transnistria since 1990.
As a result of a decrease in industrial and agricultural output since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, the relative size of theservice
sector in Moldova's economy has grown to dominate its GDP and currently
stands at over 60%. Moldova remains, however, the poorest country in
Europe.[11][12]
Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and
a prime minister as head of government. It is a member state of the United
Nations, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization (WTO),
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development,
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Organization of
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and aspires to join
the European Union.[13][14]