Moldova to skillfully address geopolitical tensions: minister

Moldova will deregulate to boost economy and skillfully address geopolitical interferences and interests in 2026, said Eugen Osmochescu, the country's Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization, on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The 2026 annual meeting of the WEF opened on Monday evening in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, calling for constructive dialogue in a complex global landscape.

During an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Osmochescu said Moldova will lift more burdens for private sectors to boost local investment in 2026, and maneuver well amidst geopolitical unrests, as "a small country, but with a big heart."

"We see the Republic of Moldova as part of Europe, an independent Europe, since we do align our policies and initiatives exactly to what the commission was saying. Trade, deregulation, capital market, energy, we are completely aligned and on the same page. First, this is deregulation. That's what we would be doing during 2026. These are easy rules for private sector. These are transparent rules. This is less burden on the private sector, which cascades at the end of the day on the benefits for the general public, for citizens. And it's not only about the foreign direct investments, it's about local investments. It's about the local businesses. So predictable rules, transparent rules, and law enforcement," he said.

"Since being a small country but with a big heart, we have proven that being a small one, we are the crossroads of geopolitical interferences, geopolitical interests. We have to maneuver, and we do maneuver well. Certainly, these obstacles are real and we have the war next door, we have the post-pandemic era and what we do as a small country certainly it's not about volumes, it's about speed, so we are agile, we're resilient. What we've done, basically, we've learned by doing and we've done by learning, but we did stay as a shield not only for ourselves but for other countries as well," said Osmochescu.

Moldova to skillfully address geopolitical tensions: minister

The death toll from a shopping mall fire in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi climbed to 60 after at least 30 bodies were recovered from a shop of the multi-story building, officials said on Wednesday.

The bodies were recovered from the mezzanine floor of the shopping mall, said senior police official Syed Asad Raza, adding that several people are still missing and a search operation is continuing to recover them.

He said that the rescue efforts are being carried out using sophisticated machines, and debris is being removed from the collapsed sections of the building.

The official said that the rescue workers are facing difficulties reaching some parts of the building due to smoke and heat inside the damaged structure, adding that one part of the building is cleared and the other two parts are being combed to rescue people under the rubble.

Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi said that an investigation into the incident has been launched as authorities look into the fire from multiple angles.

Death toll from shopping mall fire in Pakistan's Karachi rises to 60