Russia’s decisions to impose a ban on the import of Moldovan products and to annul the free trade regime with Moldova are political in character and have nothing to do with the economic sector. Russia got angry because Moldova signed the Association Agreement with the EU, but this accord is necessary for Moldova. The agreement already produces effects, but these will be better felt in the medium or long run, Minister of Economy Andrian Candu said in the event within which the Democratic Party’s ministers are presenting progress reports, IPN reports.
“We are now facing Russia’s ban on imports of Moldovan goods and the annulment of the free trade regime with Russia. I said that this decision is purely political. The EU market is enormous, with 500 million consumers. Someone can say that China’s market is much larger, but we can reply that the Europeans are different and are richer. 25% of the richness on the planet is concentrated in the EU. These are values to which we must tend,” said the minister.
Andrian Candu added that the Ministry of Economy’s negotiators managed to also convince Turkey to open its market for the Moldovan products even if this state protects the local market a lot. “Now we are having discussions with other global players on establishing a free trade regime. We discussed with China and the country expressed readiness to open talks on a free trade agreement. I will also go to Washington to raise the same issue there,” he stated.
According to the minister, last year Moldova witnessed a considerable economic growth, higher than that of the developed countries. “During the last few years, since the PDM assumed responsibility for the economic sector, the growth was of 24%. This thing influences the salaries and leads to the creation of workplaces. Not many know that 48,000 workplaces were created in 2013-2014. This trend must be maintained. Work is yet to be done to reduce the number of mandatory certificates and authorizations, but progress is made, including by programs like the guillotine, which was aimed at simplifying the procedures. An entrepreneur from Moldova should be able to easily register a company, easily open a bank account and easily hire people,” said Andrian Candu.
The official noted that a lot is yet to be done in the energy sector, even if effort was made to diversify the given area and to interconnect the country’s system to that of Europe. But a lot of time was lost as nothing in this respect was done during the last 10-15 years and the pace should be now accelerated. “We already have the feasibility studies for building five interconnection lines. Next year we will extend the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline up to Chisinau so that we do not depend on one supplier only. The renewable sources of energy are also very important. We pledged to the EU to create the conditions needed for at least 20% of the used electric power to be obtained from renewable sources until 2020. We think that a large number of alternative energy projects will start to be developed in 2015,” stated Andrian Candu.
He added that Moldova now meets 40-45% of the living conditions of 1989. “We must recover a lot and quickly. Even if we have economic growth, to be able to really feel the development we need growths of more than 10% during several years in a row. I think the Ministry of Economy in the last four years managed to fulfill its duties and will continue to play an important role,” concluded the minister.
Andrian Candu was named Minister of Economy three months ago.
