Larisa Miculeț

Larisa Miculeț was nominated by the President of the Republic of Moldova as Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Israel on December 21, 2005[3] and was also accredited from May 18, 2007, to the Republic of Cyprus.[4] She was the first woman to be appointed as ambassador of Moldova to Israel. Ambassador Miculet arrived in Israel on January 17, 2006, and officially assumed her post after presenting the Letters of Credence to the President of Israel Moshe Katsav on March 22, 2006. "I am not a feminist because I never felt any discrimination as a woman," says Miculeț. "But I had to work harder than a man to achieve my aims and prove that I'm good at what I'm doing."[5]

Although this was her first diplomatic assignment, she has previously represented the Government while performing a series of tasks related to international affairs within the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and the Council of Europe. In the period from 2001 to 2005, she acted as Moldova's Government High Level Representative to the Stability Pact Organized Crime Initiative where she launched many initiatives on regional level. She also served for many years as Moldova's national expert to various committees within the Council of Europe that dealt with international judicial cooperation, white collar crime and human trafficking, as well as advised different projects that were launched in Moldova by the Council of Europe, Stability Pact and USA Department of Justice.

Larisa Miculeț and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

During her tenure, Larisa Miculeț worked to promote Moldova-Israeli cooperation on an entire spectrum of bilateral relations, and was subsequently credited with a significant development of the cooperation between the two countries. She organized a number of high-level visits, in particular those of the Chairman of the Parliament Marian Lupu, Deputy Prime-Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Stratan and the Minister of Health Ion Ababii. Larisa Miculet also arranged the visits to Moldova of the ex-Prime-Minister, Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman and the Minister of Tourism, I. Ahranovic. During this time, Ambassador Miculet also sought to increase trade ties and foreign investments in a number of strategic sectors including agriculture, infrastructure and telecommunications. Among other notable achievements, she was also credited with the signing of the Treaty on avoiding double taxation and in fostering the bilateral humanitarian relations between the two states through the activities of the Association of Descendants from Moldova.

In April 2007, by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova, Larisa Miculet was awarded the State distinction “Meritul Civic” for strengthening Moldo-Israeli relations. It was also noted that Miculet had a very strong support from Israeli citizens that originated from Moldova, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman.

Through her work, she established close ties with political and economic elites and journalists of Israel, and built close relations with all religious communities in Israel, particularly with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem that has historic ties to Moldova. In this context, in December 2007, the Bishop of Chisinau and Moldova Vladimir awarded her the Medal “Cuvioasa Parascheva” of second degree.

As Moldovan Ambassador to Israel, she was also the 2007 Commencement Speaker at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Massachusetts, US,[6] that her son, Eugene Miculet, graduated in 2006 as the first international student Bicentennial Scholar.

Miculeț, as non-resident Ambassador to Cyprus, played a major role in resetting bilateral cooperation with Cyprus and as a result many Moldovan initiatives concerning European integration received strong support from Cyprus in the EU. In a very short period of time, she managed to give a new impetus to the negotiation process of the Treaty on avoiding double taxation that was later signed between two countries.

Prior to her appointment as Ambassador, Larisa Miculeț was the highest-ranking woman in the Public Prosecutor's Office and headed the International Cooperation and European Integration Department. During the period from February 2001 until September 2004, she supervised the Department of Financial and Economic investigations in the Public Prosecutor's Office. She started at the Public Prosecutor's Office in 1979 and since then, held various senior posts in the General Prosecutor's Office and local prosecutor's branches.

Since 2000, she holds a special rank awarded by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova Petru Lucinschi - 3rd Class State Attorney and Counselor-at-Law (equivalent to the rank of Major General). Larisa Miculet was elected twice by Parliament as member of the Public Prosecutor's Office Board Council. In September 2004, she was awarded the badge “The Honorable Employee of the Prosecutor’s Office”.

As a member of the first Moldovan Commission for the Elaboration of the Judicial Reform Strategy, formed by the Parliament, she played an important role in major legislative reforms in the country. She also taught for several years, both at the Law Faculty of Moldova State University and at the National Training Center for Judges and Prosecutors.

She published over 350 articles and interviews on legal and foreign policy issues in local and foreign mass-media and is the author of a book on comparing the American and Moldovan prosecution of white collar crime and corruption.

Larisa Miculeț was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Organized Crime for the 2011–2012 term.[7] Prior to this, she also held the membership of International Association of Prosecutors and International Federation of Women in Legal Careers.

In 1994 and 2001, she ran for Parliament in a coalition bloc of centrist parties called "Alianta Bragis".