In the letter addressed to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, the head of state asks for parliament's consent for this trip, stating that it is an official visit at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa received Maia Sandu at the Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon, on October 3rd, at the beginning of his state visit to Portugal.

On that occasion, the President of the Republic declared Portugal's support for Moldova's desire to join the European Union and announced his intention to visit this country soon, "later this month or at the beginning of next".

The Republic of Moldova, a country that borders Ukraine and Romania, presented a formal application to join the European Union in March 2022, a decision that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of that year.

In June 2022, Moldova was granted candidate country status to the European Union.

The consent of the Assembly of the Republic to the travel of the head of State is a formality imposed by the Constitution, which establishes that the President of the Republic cannot be absent from the national territory without authorization from parliament.