Moldova is set to benefit from Belt road initiative with two major roads (300km)  at an estimated cost of $400m built by major chinese firms.  One road will encircle capital Chisinau and the other will connect Ukraine in the north. Moldova to benefit from two major roads increased trade, bringing economic growth and large scale foreign investment inflows through the BRI.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the biggest and most ambitious 21st century silk road  connecting Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks along six corridors with the aim of improving regional integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth covering over 70 countries, accounting for about 65 per cent of the world’s population and around one-third of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The name was coined in 2013 by China’s President Xi Jinping, who drew inspiration from the concept of the Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago – an ancient network of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean via Eurasia for centuries. The BRI has also been referred to in the past as ‘One Belt One Road’.

The BRI comprises a Silk Road Economic Belt – a trans-continental passage that links China with south east Asia, south Asia, Central Asia, Russia and Europe by land – and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, a sea route connecting China’s coastal regions with south east and south Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East and Eastern Africa, all the way to Europe.  BRI is expected to involve over US$1 trillion in investments, largely in infrastructure development for ports, roads, railways and airports, as well as power plants and telecommunications networks. China has signed co-operational document on the belt and road initiative with 126 countries and 29 international organisations

Moldova is expected to be a major trade hub in the region with two major belt roads passing through the country carrying millions of dollars worth of supplies, logistics, oil through Moldova. With significant growth in Moldova on the horizon, citizenship in the country also becomes valuable.  Real estate and construction also expected to gain significant growth from BRI.

Moldova currently offers fast track citizenship for investment program suitable for investors, requiring one time contribution of EUR 100,000 to government fund, EUR 250,000 investment in real estate or government debt (treasury bonds).  All qualifying family members and investors qualify for passport and citizenship can be passed through future generations without interruptions through investment scheme.

Italy, Greece also set to benefit from the BRI initiative.

As of 26 March 2019, Moldovan citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to121 countries and territories, ranking the Moldovan passport 45th in terms of travel freedom (tied with the Micronesian passport) according to the Henley PassportIndex

The much anticipated Montenegro special citizenship by investment is expected to open for first applications by end of 2019 and will be fully operational by 2020 according secretariat announcement last month. The fast track citizenship scheme requires EUR 250,000 investment + EUR 100,000 donation to fund for the development of Montenegro.

Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Pavle Radulović  addressed the importance of economic citizenship program during the third conference of honorary consuls.

“It will be available to maximum 2.000 most eminent applicants within the determined timeframe of three years. That represents an additional mechanism of protections, since the program is de facto introduced as “pilot” whose performances will be closely monitored during its implementation.”, he said

Minister Radulović stated that funds raised by this program will be directed to development projects that have to generate multiple benefits for the state – from economic activities in terms of investments, employment and better supply and competitiveness of overall economy.

The Minister has assured that every step of the citizenship process will be completely transparent.

From all those aspects it is clear that all mechanisms of management of that process is in the hands of the Government, while eligibility criteria in the proposed model are defined so that every step is completely transparent, which eliminates every potential manipulation, concluded Minister Radulović.

The Montenegrin CIP will only run for three years  from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2021. During the period of the special program, up to 2000 decisions on the admission to Montenegrin citizenship on the basis of a special program may be adopted at maximum.

The Government has already announced 3 marketing agents and decision on selection of due diligence providers will be announced soon.

As a part of due diligence process, all CIP applicants will be first checked by the special mediation agents, then the international credentials agents and then auditors for source of income.  The final decision of citizenship is made by Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Security Agency.  Citizenship will be granted to most suitable applicants, who are willing to invest in the development of Montenegro.

The Montenegro government expected to raise EUR 200 million (from EUR 100,000 donations) and excess of EUR 250 million from 2000 applicants investing in the country. The money from donations will be allocated to the less-developed local self-government units and will be spent primarily on infrastructure and facilities northern areas of the country.

Montenegro is in a leading position on its path towards EU accession, compared to the other five aspirants from the Western Balkans. With most negotiation chapters open and Montenegro expected to meet the 2025 accession date suggested by the European Commission’s new 2018 enlargement strategy

by World Passport Museum

There has been much of talk about spain and portugal easing citizenship rules for sephardic jews. Today we will quickly cover this topic  on who are they? where do they come from? and why is spain and portugal simplifying citizenship path to sephardic jews.

Following the defeat of the Kingdom of Israel in the 720s BCE and the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE, the Jewish people became dispersed throughout much of the Middle East and Africa. The Jewish population in ancient Israel also was severely reduced by the Jewish–Roman wars and by the later hostile policies of the Christian emperors, against non-Christians. Following the Crusades and Inquisition, Jews from around the world began emigrating in increasing numbers.

Historically, European Jews have been classified into two major groups:

•  Ashkenazim, or “Germanics” (“Ashkenaz” meaning “Germany” in Medieval Hebrew), denoting their Central European base, and
• Sephardim, or “Hispanics” (“Sefarad” meaning “Hispania” or “Iberia” in Hebrew), denoting their Spanish, Portuguese or North African base.

A third historic term Mizrahim, or “Easterners” (“Mizrach” being “East” in Hebrew) has been used to describe other non-European Jewish communities to the east, but its usage has changed both over time and relative to the location where it was used.

Sephardic Jews descended from the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century, immediately prior to the issuance of the Alhambra Decree of 1492 by order of the Catholic Monarchs in Spain, and the decree of 1496 in Portugal by order of King Manuel I.

Prior to 1492, substantial Jewish populations existed in most Spanish and Portuguese provinces.

The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion) was an edict issued on 31 March 1492, by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon) ordering the expulsion/exile of jews who did not comply to religious conversion.

Five years later, Portugal’s King Manuel issued a decree  to appease Spanish monarchs to marry their daughter.  The decree blocked jews from leaving by blocking ports of exit.

Both the Spanish and Portuguese edicts ordered their respective Jewish residents to choose one of only three options:

• to convert to Catholicism and therefore to be allowed to remain within the kingdom,
• to remain Jewish and to be expelled by the stipulated deadline, or
• to be summarily executed.

The purpose Alhambra Decree of 1492,  was to eliminate their influence on Spain’s large converso population not convert to Judaism.

As a result of the Alhambra decree and persecution in prior years, over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and between 40,000 and 100,000 were expelled, an indeterminate number returning to Spain in the years following the expulsion. Many fled to Portugal, Turkey and other countries.

Today, according to a genetic research published by American Journal of Human Genetics, genetic markers show that one in five of Spaniards have Sephardic Jews markers.

Spain and Portugal offer expedited path to citizenship and passport  to sephardic jews who could prove their ancestory.

Spain

In 2015 the Government of Spain passed Law 12/2015 of 24 June, whereby Sephardic Jews with a connection to Spain could obtain Spanish citizenship by naturalisation, without the residency requirement.

The scheme was further extended to October 2019.  As of March 2018, some 6,432 people had been granted Spanish citizenship under the sephardic citizenship law. In Spain the citizenship application fee is €100 euro

Portugal

In April 2013 The Portuguese government offered naturalization path to the descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Portugal and Spain in the fifteenth century.  Applicants must prove of Sephardic community of Portuguese origin with ties to Portugal through surnames in the family tree.

As of Feb 2018, 12,000 applications were in process, and 1,800 applicants had been granted Portuguese citizenship in 2017.  The citizenship

Diaspora population

There are about 2,2 million sephardic jews  population worldwide roughly make up to 16% of world’s Jewish population, with majority of them living in Israel, France and United Kingdom

The EU has published a paper on economic forecast on Cyprus for Spring 2019 and in its report said  Cyprus’ economic expansion is set to remain robust, driven by domestic demand, but risks are tilted to the downside. Inflation is forecasted to remain subdued and budget is expected to return to surplus with public debt to steadily decline from 2019 onwards.

Cyprus continues to enjoy a remarkable post-crisis rebound with real GDP growth of 3.9% in 2018.

The paper described investments in cyprus forecasted to be robust, with  overall economic activity coming from ongoing tourism-related projects. Half of all transactions in residential construction driven by foreign demand, supported by the Citizenship by Investment programme.

A major scale of investments arise from ship registrations.

The paper described tourism-linked services is clouded by the recent bankruptcies of several airlines servicing Cyprus, slowing global demand, fierce competition, and high Brexit related uncertainty (UK citizens account for more than a third of all tourists) and warns that heavy reliance on foreign funding also leaves Cyprus vulnerable to external developments.

Cyprus has already received excess over 6.6 billion euros through the citizenship investment scheme. From May 15th, the council of ministers implemented new measures were implemented strengthening the cypriot citizenship scheme which include requirement of schengen visa, increased holding of property for five years and addition donation of EUR 150,000 for the development of Cyprus. All applicants had to pass due diligence checks and have no criminal record

Cyprus remained the second best citizenship by investment scheme in Best citizenships rankings behind Malta. Currently Cyprus remains the most expensive citizenship schemes in the world requiring over 2 million euros.

You can read the paper here