Navigating Crisis and Leading Change in Moldova with Former Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

Speaker: Natalia Gavrilita, Former Prime Minister of Moldova

Moderator: Karen Donfried, Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch will be provided. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.

About the Speaker: 

Natalia Gavrilița is a member of the Supervisory Board of the National Bank of Moldova, as well as member of the ECFR Board. Natalia Gavrilița served as the 15th Prime Minister of Moldova between August 2021 and February 2023. She led the Government through multiple overlapping crises caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine, while also advancing ambitious anti-corruption, economic, and governance reforms. During her time in office, Moldova received the largest influx of Ukrainian refugees of any European country, managed to diversify its energy market away from Russian gas, and became a candidate country to the European Union. Gavrilița has had a long history in economics and politics. She served as finance minister from June 2019 to November 2019 when President Maia Sandu was Prime Minister. Earlier in her career, she was Managing Director at the London-based Global Innovation Fund, a hybrid investment fund supporting social innovation in developing countries. She has also worked within the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Economy and for Oxford Policy Management. Throughout her career, she has worked in a number of countries across Africa, Central and South Asia. Gavrilița graduated from Moldova State University with a bachelor’s degree in International Law and also earned a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.