Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti called for making Romanian Moldova's official language rather than Moldovan, as currently specified in the constitution.
"We are ethnic Romanians, although we call ourselves Moldovans," the president said in a speech at Moldova's Academy of Sciences marking National Language Day on August 31 in Chisinau.
"Let us learn and accept this fact once and for all and concentrate on other problems," he said.
Timofti said he believes changing the official language in the constitution will help to avoid a split in the population between those who consider themselves Romanian and those who view themselves as Moldovan.
"When I was asked [by other heads of state] about my descent, I answered that I am Romanian, just like my parents, ancestors, and the entire people living on this land," he said in his speech.
Timofti praised a decision by the Moldovan Constitutional Court in 2013 that declared Romanian to be the state language.