The Government of Japan approved the use of the Counterpart Fund, accumulated under the Japanese Non-Project Grant Aid, to finance the Project on Assistance and Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a press release from the Embassy of Japan. In the period of 2005-2008, Japan extended four tranches of Non-Project Grant Aid for the total amount of 1.3 billion yen (about US$11.8 million) to Moldova for the purpose of contributing to promotion of the economic and structural efforts of the Government of Moldova as well as mitigation of the economic difficulties. The grant aid was extended under the condition that the Moldovan side accumulates a counterpart fund to be used subsequently for social and economic development of Moldova, in this case also for development of small businesses. In March 2011, the Ministry of Economy of Moldova, under whose aegis the program is being implemented, requested the Government of Japan to approve the use of another 21 million Moldovan lei from the counterpart fund to finance the Project on Assistance and Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Having studied the application, the Government of Japan decided to approve the project. It is expected that 13 small enterprises will be selected to participate in the project. Since the first grant provided in March 2005, a total of 123 small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova used financing from Japan’s grant aid as well as the counterpart fund.