The first national conference “Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficiency” will take place on June 1, as part of an initiative by EBRD Business Advisory Services Moldova (BAS Moldova), funded by the Swedish Government, Info-Prim Neo reports. Veronica Arpintin, manager of BAS Moldova, said that the project's aim was to encourage local companies and the Moldovan business environment to implement projects of energy efficiency, to reduce production costs and thus increase competitiveness. “During the conference, we’ll present state policies in the domain of sustainable energy and energy efficiency, existing financial tools to support this kind of projects and success stories of companies that invested in energy efficiency”, mentioned Veronica Arpintin. BAS Moldova offers small and medium business assistance in identifying and setting business needs, in finding the best consultants for the existing problems and reimbursing up to 70% of the consultancy costs. Since the EBRD initiatives was launched in Moldova in 2005, assistance has been provided to 300 small and medium businesses in the areas of industry, agriculture and IT. The maximum grant for advisory services is €10,000. Currently, BAS is focused on supporting energy efficiency projects. “BAS finances services for developing projects of energy efficiency, provides energy audits and engineering studies. So far, we’ve assisted 40 companies. The co-financing offered by the Swedish Government (€1.2 million) allows us to organize trainings and information events on this topic”, the BAS Moldova manager added. Libor Krkosca, EBRD representative in Moldova, mentioned the EBRD Credit Line for Energy Efficiency, opened in three banks last year, with a value of €20 million. 15 projects have already been approved and the portfolio includes 30 projects. “This market is way larger and soon, we’ll commence negotiations for an additional credit of €15 million to complete the resources of this line, beginning next year”, he said.