Moldova on Tuesday expressed confidence that India would play a major role in global affairs and said New Delhi’s case for a permanent seat on an expanded United Nations Security Council needed to be examined.

“I do see India playing more and more bigger role not only in the region but in global affairs as well,’’ said Tudor Ulianovschi, Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in a wide-ranging interview to The Statesman.

He noted that India was a prominent member of key global groupings like BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the fastest growing economy with the second largest global population. His country desired close cooperation with India in various fields. “I do think India will gain from its cooperation with Moldova, regardless of the size of Moldova,’’ he added.

Ulianovschi, who is the first foreign minister from his land-locked country in Eastern Europe to visit India, said the objectives of his trips were to strengthen the political dialogue with India, initiate steps to open the Embassy of Moldova in India and to increase the volume of trade between the two countries.

The visiting minister, who held a series of meetings with top Indian ministers and officials and also interacted with business honchos, said India had accepted his country’s proposal to open its full-fledged mission in New Delhi in 2019.

In the near future, a technical team from Moldova would visit India to start looking for a suitable place for setting up the embassy. India would also consider opening its mission in Moldova’s capital of Chisinau. There was also a proposal to start direct flights between the capitals of the two countries.

Asked if Moldova supported India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the visiting minister said there was need for reforms in the UN because it did not represent the present day realities. Not only India, there were several other countries which were bidding for permanent seats on the Security Council.

“I am in favour of UNSC reforms…so I would not be opposed to examine the Indian bid for the UNSC permanent seat,’’ he added.

Ulianovschi regretted that the current volume of bilateral trade between India and Moldova was ‘very modest’ at $30 million. However, it would indeed improve once Moldova had set up its embassy in India.

Moldova was primarily exporting agricultural products to India and importing items like spare parts, textiles and pharmaceuticals, including Ayurveda products. He appealed to Indian entrepreneurs to take advantage of the conducive industry-friendly climate in his country and liberally invest in Moldova.

Moldova, known for its scenic beauty, could also be a good destination for ‘Bollywood’ directors to shoot their films. He said he had discussed this matter with his Indian interlocutors and a delegation from his country might visit Mumbai soon to take the discussions forward.

An idea that was discussed during these meetings was to set up a film city or film set in Moldova. Bollywood directors could come to Moldova instead of going to places like Switzerland where they end up spending 20 times more than what they would spend in Moldova.

In response to a question, he said there were 287 Indians living in his country of whom 210 were students enrolled at the famous Moldova Medicine and Pharmaceutical University.

Purrshottam Bhaggeria, Honorary Consul of Moldova in India, said Moldova, like India, was a developing economy and has a lot of growth potential. Trained manpower and infrastructure in Moldova were very economical as compared to other parts of Europe.

Moldova could be made a base to export products to both Western Europe and Eastern Europe as the country enjoyed duty-free trade with most of the European countries, he added.