Ion ȘTEFANOVICI, President of CAPDR: “20 Years of Service for Moldova – Faith, Experience, and Vision!”
100 economic opportunities for the development of the Moldova Region on the A7 Highway route
A visit to Piatra Neamț and an apparently trivial conversation reminded me how my journey began…
20 Years of Service for Moldova – Faith, Experience, and Vision 
This year marks twenty years since the moment that defined the beginning of my journey.
Life was just beginning – but I already knew I wanted to understand my place in the world through discipline, rigor, and responsibility.
At that time, I chose to join the army voluntarily, part of the last generation to fulfill mandatory military service in 2004, just before Romania joined NATO. I remember the day of the oath taken in Piatra Neamț – solemn, clear, with an unforgettable emotion. Those words, “I pledge allegiance to my homeland, Romania”, settled deeply within me and accompanied me in everything I did.
The rest of the military service took place at Unit 30 Guard and Protocol “Mihai Viteazul”, a place where discipline and respect for the uniform were a form of education, not coercion.
The professional life that followed offered me many opportunities.
The first came from public institutions and administration, then horizons opened towards international cooperation.
The years spent there taught me the mechanisms of decision-making, but also its limits.
I understood that real change does not come only through decisions and documents, but through people, through communities, through direct work on the ground. That is why I chose to bring my experience where the results can be felt concretely — in Moldova, among the people.
I was born, raised, and shaped in Iași, a place that played an essential role in my professional and human development.
Over time, I discovered all of Moldova. I met people, places, and destinies. I understood that Romania’s real strength lies in the regions that work, in the counties that rise through their own efforts, and in the people who, without expecting support, carry their communities forward.
Driven by the desire to turn conviction into action, in 2005 I founded an organization that then bore a different name but shared the same spirit: to bring European knowledge to the Moldova Region and support Romania’s path to the European Union.
Thus, over time, CAPDR – Center for Analysis and Planning of Regional Development (CAPDR) took shape. We started as a small team, driven by the idea that we could make a difference.
Years passed, and our activity expanded from local projects to international cooperation: from Romanian Moldova to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. From isolated initiatives to a coherent vision – development through cooperation. After two decades of work, I believe more than ever that the solution for Romania’s economic recovery has two directions:
- regional cooperation externally, where Moldova can become a bridge between the European Union and eastern neighbors;
- regional competitiveness internally, where each county must be a link in the same national economic strength.
For this objective, we are ready to act on all fronts and utilize all available levers – economic, administrative, non-governmental, political, and media-related.
Romania needs a new development architecture, built from within the regions, through solidarity and genuine cooperation.
I believe in a Romania defined by connections.
Therefore, my vision for the coming years carries the name of a natural and historic arc: Carpathians – Danube Delta – Black Sea.
This is our axis of identity and development: a space for economic, tourist, energy, and cultural cooperation, capable of transforming Moldova into a center of balance in Eastern Europe.
If the war eases in 2026, #ForumulEconomicRegionalMoldova will be organized in #Odesa, as a symbol of reconstruction and reconnection among peoples. It will express the belief that beyond destruction, a shared future built on dialogue and cooperation exists.
Looking back at these twenty years, the thread that binds everything is the same: the belief that Romania is built from the ground up, through its regions.
My academic training – International Economic Relations at “Al. I. Cuza” University, Political Communication at SNSPA, and Information Management at the National Intelligence Academy – was only a foundation.
The true school was life itself: projects, people, challenges, and uninterrupted work.
That is why Moldova 2030 is more than a program or a strategy. It is a conviction.
Romania can regain its balance when the regions, and in our case, the Moldova Region, contribute everything they have: people, work, energy, and faith.
This is essentially Moldova’s contribution to a balanced Romania.
For me, all roads, projects, and meetings lead to the same place. Here I began, here I remained, and from here I will continue. Regardless of how things evolve, regardless of whether a national political program arises in which I contribute, I will not leave #Moldova.
I will work alongside a future national team organized by regions, but my roots will remain here, among people, in the villages, towns, rivers, plains, and mountains of Moldova.
For me, our region is the living heart of Romania, the place where the country’s pulse and its suffering are felt most clearly.
That is why everything I do, every step, and every idea has the same purpose: to transform Moldova into a model of cooperation, development, and national balance.
The twenty years that have passed have taught me a simple lesson: no path walked with faith ever stops. It simply transforms into a road for those who come after us. That is why, when I look ahead, I know one thing with certainty: Romania’s future depends exclusively on regional development, and the pilot program begins in the Moldova Region, through the regional policies we have developed.
The twenty years of multidisciplinary activity, in administration, foreign trade, diplomacy, and security, provide me with the preparation necessary to develop the meticulously planned strategy for the Moldova regional pilot program – for national implementation and for engagement in the wider regional context in Eastern Europe. But the involvement of specialists is needed.
For years we complained about the absence of a coherent recovery plan. Well, now we have one. We just need to do our jobs in a coordinated and interdependent manner – first regionally, then nationally.
This is our place. Here lie the roots and the purpose. And from here, together, we will build the future in the next 20 years.
In November, we will publicly present the Action Plan for the period 2025 – 2035.
