● MONDAY, April 14

Economy minister assures energy security will be ensured 

Moldova does not face the danger of the supply of Russian gas being interrupted, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said. According to Lazar, the supply of natural gas to Moldova was ensured legally by signing bilateral contracts with the Russian Federation. If the supply is halted, Moldova will be able to seek damages from Russia through court. The minister of economy said that Moldova pays well for the consumed gas, the debts to “Gazprom” being 90% settled. During the visit that he made to Kiev, Valeriu Lazar was assured by Ukrainian officials that if Ukraine refuses to import Russian gas owing to the exaggerated prices, it will not give up transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe.

Private business sector pledges to promote non-discrimination policies 

The phenomenon of discrimination on grounds of age, sex or ethnicity on employment persists. It negatively affects the whole society and the economy. The state will not manage to effectively implement non-discrimination legislation if it’s not helped by employers. The issue was discussed in the first Employers Forum for Non-Discrimination, initiated by the private business sector of Moldova. The Embassy of Sweden and the EU Delegation to Moldova supported the private sector’s initiative. In the opening of the event, Swedish Ambassador Ingrid Tersman said the campaigns that promote non-discrimination principles stand to gain only. It’s not enough to have a plan for promoting these principles. A driving force is needed to speed things up. Wicher Slagter, head of the Political and Economic Section of the EU Delegation to Moldova, reminded that mathematician Alan Turing saved Europe when he deciphered the fascists’ code during World War II and invented a number of components for computers without which the operation system, the Internet and the last-generation phones wouldn’t have existed.

Fuel prices go down 

A number of oil companies decided to reduce the fuel prices starting with this week, the National Agency for Energy Regulation has said in a communiqué. The Agency does not set the prices on a competition market, but monitors the market so that the operators do not exceed the profitability rate of 10% stipulated in the methodology for calculating the prices of oil products. Earlier, the Agency and oil companies agreed to set up a joint working group that will meet monthly to keep the situation under control and to become immediately involved in solving problems faced by the oil companies.

Mobile telephone market reached maturity 

The rise in incomes on the electronic communications market this year will be ensured mainly by the higher sales of fixed and mobile Internet access services, director of the national ICT regulator (ANRCETI) Grigore Varanita said in a news conference. According to forecasts, the incomes on the electronic communications market will total 6.7 – 6.8 billion lei, while the share of Internet services is projected to rise by 15-20%. “The incomes on the mobile telephone market will remain at the same level as in 2013. This market reached maturity and thus the growth rate of sales slowed down. On the other hand, the customers use voice services through alternative devices, computers and Smartphone,” stated Grigore Varanita.

Austria assists Moldova in developing rural tourism 

The Austrian Development Agency will offer Moldova a grant of 117,000 lei for implementing the project “Human resources, valuable investments in rural tourism in Moldova”. The grant contract was signed with the National Training Center for Tourism Industry Personnel of the Tourism Agency. The project represents one of the measures taken by the Tourism Agency to stimulate domestic and inbound tourism. Within it, there will be worked out a training course in the management of rural tourism businesses that will be piloted with 30 participants selected by the local public administration of every district. The 30 administrators of rural accommodation units will be able to take part in a seven-day training course on rural development, scheduled for May 19-24. In the end, the participants will receive certification diplomas based on which they will be able to work for three years in the tourism sector of Moldova.

● TUESDAY, April 15

 Lower bills for electronic communications services 

The average value of the bills for the mobile phone last year was 54 lei for private individuals, by 6 lei less than in 2012. Legal entities paid 174 lei on average, by 30 lei less. Director of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology Grigore Varanita said the reduction was possible following the rise in the number of users of mobile phone services by 350,000. The volume of minutes traffic rose by over half a billion. The bills for fixed-line phone services were also lower. The private individuals paid 46 lei, by 9 lei less than in 2012, while the legal entities - 126 lei, down 18 lei. The decrease is due to the fact that the alternative fixed-line phone operators had more advantageous offers than the national carrier. In some of the cases, there were provided even free services and the number of customers increased thus.

National economic entities under inspection 

As many as 162 companies selling food and nonfood products at retail outlets in Chisinau municipality had been visited by inspectors of the Consumer Protection Agency during a week. The inspectors imposed fines, but also monitored the situation and advised the economic entities how to remove the identified irregularities. Lilia Cojocaru, specialist of the mass media service of the Consumer Protection Agency, said that among the main irregularities found by inspectors are the incorrect posting of prices, lack of information in the official language on products and inappropriate marking.

Transnistrian producers face problems related to purchase of raw material 

The producers from the Transnistrian region complain that they encounter difficulties in their activity owing to the tense situation in Ukraine. In a meeting with representatives of the Transnistrian administration, the manager of the Tiraspol Meat Complex Ilya Kapanji said the company cannot sign contracts for the supply of raw material.

● WEDNESDAY, April 16

Chisinau to host “Moldova Business Week 2014” on June 5-11 

The investment week “Moldova Business Week 2014” will take place in Chisinau between June 5 and 11. In its April 16 meeting, the Government is to approve a decision on the conception of this event. “Moldova Business Week 2014” will include the Exporters Forum, which is the Vienna Economic Forum’s session in Chisinau, a number of roundtable meetings on the prospects of the development regions, and an exhibition titled “Investment potential of regions and local companies”. The objective of the event is to attract investors’ attention to Moldova’s regions with development potential and to the new opportunities that will appear after the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU.

Moldova opens talks on Competitiveness Enhancement Project II 

The negotiations between Moldova and the World Bank on the Competitiveness Enhancement Project II (CEP II) will start in May. Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said that CEP II must develop actions that will contribute to the enhanced competiveness of the Moldovan companies so that they prepare for taking the opportunities and coping with the challenges that will appear when the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between Moldova and the EU is created. According to a communiqué from the Ministry of Economy, CEP II aims to improve the competitiveness, especially of the small and medium-sized companies, by enabling them to penetrate new markets and by launching a credit line for the private sector.

● THURSDAY, April 17

Strategy for developing tourism approved 

In Moldova here will be certified 40 tourist routes and worked out four new national routes that will be connected to the European tourist routes. There will be also rehabilitated 20 tourist facilities, laid out five recreational areas, built two sports complexes and set up 50 pit stops. The measures are contained in the strategy for developing tourism until 2020 that was approved by the Government. The number of foreign tourists over the next six years is projected to rise by 3% a year. The growth within domestic tourism will be 4% annually. Thus, towards 2020, the number of foreign tourists will increase to over 100,000, while of domestic ones to over 300,000 people. The strategy will be implemented at a cost of over 167 million lei. The incomes in the tourism sector will come to over 1 billion lei by 2020.

Central bank to issue new commemorative coins 

The National Bank of Moldova will issue new commemorative coins as legal tender and for numismatic purposes. The series “Personalities” will be supplemented with two coins: “Dumitru Matcovschi – 75 years of birth” and “Tamara Ciobanu – 100 years of birth”. The series “Alley of the Classical Writers” will include the new coin ”Nicolae Milescu Spataru”, while the coins “20 years of the adoption of the Constitution” and “125 years of the foundation of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History” will be added to the series “Historical events”.

Government decides who will set salaries of managers of state-run companies 

The salaries of managers of state-run companies, companies with majority state capital and the monopolist companies named by the Government will be set by the companies’ administration board or the council of the joint stock company. Such a decision was approved by the Government in its April 19 meeting. Last year, by an amendment to the legislation, there was limited the size of the salary of managers of such companies to 3-5 monthly average pays per company. But it wasn’t then specified who will set the salary for the whole year. “The pays will be set based on the economic-financial reports for the previous year. The incomes from sales and other indicators typical of the given company will be also taken into account. Thus, the salary becomes an instrument for stimulating the managers who achieve good results,” stated Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga.

● FRIDAY, April 18

EIB offers €1.6m for preventing floods 

The Ministry of the Environment and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a cooperation agreement that envisions the provision of a grant for the Technical Assistance and Management Support for Protecting Moldova’s Territory from Floods Project. The financing totals €1.6 million. According to a communiqué from the Ministry of the Environment, the project is aimed at combating the negative effects of natural hazards, especially floods, at identifying the areas facing flood risks and at taking measures to reduce these risks.

● SATURDAY,  April 19

Russia ready to increase meat imports from Moldova 

The Russian authorities expressed readiness to increase the imports of meat from Moldova. A group of experts was invited to inspect the potential Moldovan producers and exporters of meat. According to a communiqué from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Minister Vasile Bumacov met recently in Moscow with the head of Russia’s supervisory body “Rosselkhoznadzor” Sergei Dankvert. One of the topics of mutual interest was the export of Moldovan meat products and the increase in the volume of raw meat supplies to Russia.