Moldova's Parliament hosts the two-day National Volunteering Conference 2017 which was attended by representatives of civil society from different districts, deputies, ministers, public policy specialists from ministries.

Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu also participated the inaugural session, holding a speech to welcome the dedicated work by volunteers. 

"Moldova has joined the family of states that recognized the importance and role of volunteering in 2010 by adopting the Volunteer Law - after four years of joint efforts through collaboration between the Parliament, the Volunteer Coalition and other public authorities," the Speaker of the Parliament said.

Andrian Candu said that the Civil Society Development Strategy for the period 2018-2020, which will soon be included in the legislative procedure, is currently being discussed with the experts.

In turn, Anthony Fonari, Director of the Platform for Active Citizenship and Partnership for Human Rights, welcomed the fact that in recent years civil society representatives have been actively supporting Parliament and Government. 

At the opening session, there were also the President of the Commission for Social Protection, Health and Family, responsible for cooperation with the civil society, Valentina Buliga, the President of the Commission for National Security, Defense and Public Order, Roman Botan, the deputies Valeriu Ghileţchi and Iurie Chiorescu, as well as Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection, Stela Grigoraş.

The National Volunteering Conference 2017 takes place from 18-19 December 2017 and aims at assessing the level of development of the volunteer field and identifying the main directions of its development in the Republic of Moldova.

The event is organized with the support of Parliament by the Platform for Active Citizenship and Partnership for Human Rights (CAP), in partnership with the members and partners of the Volunteer Law and Volunteer Coalition (Volunteer Coalition) and with the financial support of the Annual Sector Grant Program Youth of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.