USAID’s Competitiveness Enhancement and Enterprise Development Program (CEED) will be extended for another 4 years, at the request of the Ministry of Economy, Info-Prim Neo reports. Project manager Doug Griffith announced CEED-2 would be launched this year. It will focus on helping local industries find solutions for increasing productivity and identifying new markets, will offer assistance in attracting investments and promoting exports, rising to international quality standards, and will mediate the dialogue between public and private sectors. According to Griffith, the project will extend to cover new areas, such as furniture and footwear industries. The Ministry of Economy will offer additional support. Minister Valeriu Lazar said this was the first step within the strategic partnership between the US Embassy in Moldova and the Ministry of Economy. “We follow three major goals: negotiate favorable commercial regimes with partner states, re-industrialize our country, create new jobs, ensure wage raises and improving export offers. These are meant to overcome structural unbalances in our economy and the overdependence on remittances, which feed the consumption covered through imports”, said Lazar. Through CEED project, 115 enterprises from wine industry, textile industry, IT and communication and other sectors, received assistance. During this cooperation, they registered overall sales of $84 million and created 3500 new jobs. The project’s value was of $7.9 million.