On September 29, 2017, the Administrative Council of the Institute for Development of Social Initiatives (IDIS) decided to include Veaceslav Pituscan as a member of the IDIS International Advisory Board. Veaceslav served as a senior career diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (1994-2016) holding the diplomatic rank of a Minister Counselor. As a Charge d’Affaires a.i. (Acting Ambassador), Deputy Head of Mission and Minister Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova to the USA (2014-2016), he provided an essential contribution to the launching and implementation of the US-Moldova Strategic Dialogue.

For more than ten years, Veaceslav Pituscan participated actively in the process of European integration of Moldova, starting from the admission of Moldova to various South-East European frameworks of cooperation to the obtaining of the EU Autonomous Trade Preferences, negotiation of the first EU-Moldova European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan and finally of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. He held various Directorate-level positions, including as a Deputy Director General for European Integration and Deputy Head of Mission to the EU in Brussels. Veaceslav studied at Moldova State University, the Bucharest National School of Political and Administrative Studies, and Oxford University. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the USA and Executive Director at PASS LLC, USA.

Following this decision of the IDIS Administrative Council, there are currently seven members of the IDIS International Advisory Board:

• Ambassador (Ret.) Asif Chaudhry, Dr., Vice President for International Programs, Washington State University, Seattle, Washington, USA

• Dr. Jae-Jin Kim, Senior Fellow, Korea Institute of Public Finance, Member of the Presidential Commission, Seoul, Republic of Korea

• Dr. Adam Eberhardt, Director of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), Warsaw, Poland

• Dr. Dorel Nasui, CEO and President, Founder and owner of the American International Radio Inc, (AIR), The Honorary Council of the Republic of Moldova in Illinois, Chicago, USA

• Dr. Engineer. Cornel E.Chisu, Politician, Former Member of the Parliament of Canada, Toronto, Canada

• Dr. Andris Spruds, Director, Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Riga, Latvia

• Veaceslav Pituscan, Visiting Scholar, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Executive Director, PASS LLC, USA. Former senior Moldovan diplomat.

Members of the International Advisory Council serve for a period of four years, starting in November 2016, interacting with IDIS through various forms of cooperation and direct support.

The Administrative Council of the Institute for Development of Social Initiatives (IDIS) welcomes the establishment of the IDIS International Advisory Board which will ensure the strategic advice of the Institute in the areas of international affairs, government reforms, national and regional security, social, economic, defense and educational policies.