● MONDAY, August 29
Overdue compensations owed to fruit producers cleared
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, making reference to the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture, said the process of paying the overdue compensations to fruit producers affected by the ban imposed by Russia in 2014 was finalized. The payments over the 109 applications totaled 43 million lei. The Agency managed the compensation of agricultural producers registered as legal entities for the sustained losses. These producers possess apple and plum orchards that occupy over 15 ha of land.
● THURSDAY, September 1
European Court of Auditors says only limited evidence of progress from EU support was determined in Moldova
EU financial support to Moldova, aimed at strengthening the country’s public administration, has had only a limited effect, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors. The report says the lack of political will from the national authorities explains some of the shortcomings. Also, the granting of additional incentive‐based funds was not fully justified. The auditors made a number of recommendations to the European Commission for improving EU assistance to Moldova, including to use the early warning system more rigorously to prevent or mitigate risks, to better link budget support programs to national strategies, to strengthen the use of conditionality and performance indicators, to link additional incentive‐based funds more clearly to demonstrable progress, and to ensure the sustainability of projects by more systematically assessing the capacity and political commitment of public authorities to sustain outcomes. When the auditors examined budget support programs in the sectors of justice, public finance, public health and water, they found only limited evidence of progress. External factors such as lack of political will from the national authorities explained some of the shortcomings. Others were due to weaknesses in the design and implementation of the programs and projects audited.
Main indicators on landline telephone services market decline
The number of subscribers to landline telephone services in January-June this year continued to decrease, as did the voice traffic and sales of such services. This trend has marked the landline telephone services market during the last three years. The statistics published by the ICT regulator (ANRCETI) show that the number of subscribers diminished by over 11,000 compared with the end of 2015 to over 1 million. The total volume of voice traffic declined by 109.7 million minutes on the first half of 2015 to 967.3 million minutes. Sales fell by 41.2 million lei to over 466.6 million lei. According to the ANRCETI, the decline in the number of subscribers was due to the diminution of the client base of SA “Moldtelecom” by 15,800. The voice traffic in fixed-line telephone networks decreased owing to the decline in all types of traffic, while total sales fell following the decrease in the sales of most of the market operators.
● FRIDAY, September 2
Internet speed in a lot of states is much lower than in Moldova, Vasile Botnari
The ICT sector is a relatively young one, where the main changes occurred starting with 2000, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Vasile Botnari said in an interview produced on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the declaration of Moldova’s Independence. The official noted that owing to the efforts made at multiple levels and the openness of society to what is new, the ICT sector saw a development that was spectacular in parts and today is one of the most developed and dynamic sectors in the country. The minister said the ICT sector’s share in the country’s Gross Domestic Product is about 8%, with a market value of over 8.6 billion lei. “During the last few years for example, important investments were made in mobile communications networks and services. Currently, over 35% of the country’s territory and 65% of the population are covered with new generation 4G services. This means access speed and data transfer at a high speed that, depending on region, can reach 300 Mbps. For comparison, I can tell that at world level, the high-speed Internet in a lot of states is only 2 Mbps,” stated Vasile Botnari. Also, the process of extending the fiber optic networks all over the country is in full swing and at least 60% of the households are expected to have access to high-speed Internet by a connection of minimum 30 Mbps towards 2020. But the measures taken so far can help achieve this objective faster.
Moldova can compete on international ICT market, Vasile Botnari
The growth and absorption rates of the new services and the interest expressed by the new generation in this sector show that Moldova has big development prospects in this direction, not only as a consumer, but also as a generator of ICT products, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Vasile Botnari stated in an interview produced on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the declaration of Moldova’s Independence. „The question and big challenge for Moldova is if it can compete successfully on the international ICT market and, respectively, if it can find the own niche on the global market and make use of its best resource – trained and creative people,” said the official. The ICT Ministry set the goal of bringing Moldova among the top 50 countries in the ICT sector at global level. To make progress in developing a modern digitized society, we must yet act perseveringly, in accordance with a clear strategy. „We are sure that the ICT sector of Moldova has real growth potential, but this growth will be really significant at the level of national economy only when we manage to ensure the competitiveness of the IT products and services. To achieve this goal, we should concentrate our efforts on the development of the electronic communications infrastructure, the development of local digital content and services and ICT education and strengthen confidence and safety in the virtual space,” stated Vasile Botnari. According to him, special attention should be devoted to the augmentation of the share of the IT industry, the quantity and quality of ICT specialists and the promotion of the IT products and services on the domestic market and particularly for export.
About 60% of state budget incomes are generated by Customs Service
Currently, about 60% of the amounts collected into the state budget are generated by the Customs Service. In his speech in a ceremony held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Customs, the Customs Service’s director Vitalie Vrabie said that during the 25 years the institution showed a continuous ascent and is now able to deal with challenges. Vitalie Vrabie said about 1,050 employees are daily on duty at the Customs Service. About 65 million lei on average is daily collected as import duties. Thus, each employee collects about 62,000 lei per banking day. Simple calculations show that a customs employee in a month collects 1.3 million lei into the state budget, while in a year – about 15 million lei. However, the salaries of customs employees are not appropriate. According to Vitalie Vrabie, the promotion of a productive partnership between the Customs and business entities is a priority for the Customs Service. “Today the Customs Service comes to support the investors by simplifying the procedures and establishing a permanent dialogue with them. The Customs Service is powerfully exposed to illegalities, probably more than other institutions. We realize this fact and admit that the customs officers also make mistakes, but we correct them daily,” said the chief of the Service. Attending the ceremony, Prime Minister Pavel Filip highlighted the Customs Service’s accomplishments achieved during the 25 years. He said he supports the reform at the Service and is for the Service’s optimization and for strengthening the professionalism and integrity of the customs employees. “The goal of this reform is to optimize work at the Customs Service, to change the negative image created in time and to finally form professional, efficient and integral personnel,” he stated.
Moldova’s exports to EU at over US$2bn in two years
Moldova since the start of the implementation of the Deep and Compressive Free Trade Agreement with the EU (DCFTA) in 2014 has exported goods to the value of over US$2.2 billion to the EU. When the agreement started to be put into practice, the structure of Moldova’s exports changed. The share of the industrial goods rose to 65% of the exports. Grain exports through the anti-circumvention mechanism also increased. In the first half of 2016 alone, there were exported over 178,000 tonnes of wheat (237% of the import quota of 75,000 tonnes), more than 10,000 tonnes of processed grains (420% of the quota of 2,500 tonnes), and 38,000 tonnes of sugar (104% of the quota of 37,000 tonnes). The main European trading partners are: Romania (23.8% of Moldova’s exports), Italy (10%), the UK (6.5%), Germany (6.5%), France (2.5%) and Poland (3.3%). The Netherlands, Cyprus, France and Spain are the main foreign investors. The foreign direct investment in the national economy in 2015 came to US$228.5 million, an increase of 14% compared with 2014.
Civil society is waiting for changes in public procurement process
Even if the new Law on Public Procurement, which transposes European directives, was adopted and took effect and the regulations envisioned by this law were partially worked out, essential changes in the public procurement process didn’t occur, said participants in a public debate held in connection with the launch of the public procurement monitoring report: identified shortcomings and policy recommendations that was presented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”. ”The reform initiated by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Procurement Agency in 2016 has ambitious objectives: transparent procurement processes, without corruption; optimal use of budget money for the public interest; promotion of institutional and personal responsibility among the working groups for public procurement, and stimulation of a competitive business environment,” said Diana Enachi, one of the authors of the report. There were monitored nine contracting authorities from which they asked for information on government procurement. These are the district councils of Anenii Noi, Hancesti, Soroca, Sangerei, Drochia, Causeni, Stefan-Voda, Cahul and Criuleni. The Criuleni district council didn’t answer the request. There were carried out 11 activities that involved about 500 persons who assessed different aspects of the quality of the procurement process.
● SATURDAY, September 3
Women encouraged to develop tourism businesses
The advantages and responsibilities associated with the starting of a business in the tourism industry were discussed in an event called Expert Battle that involved women entrepreneurship who run pensions or other accommodation facilities, women graduates of tourism faculties and women who want to start a business in tourism. “The women’s contribution to developing the tourism industry can be much greater even if their contribution is now important. Who if not the women realize what hospitality, authentic gastronomy and warmth with which the tourists visiting Moldova expect to be met are? That’s why we supported this initiative,” stated Natalia Turcanu, executive director of the National Inbound Tourism Association.
Grants for 34 enterprises within PARE 1+1 program
The Surveillance Committee of the program to attract remittances to the economy PARE 1+1 approved 34 applications for grants to the value of 6.8 million lei. Twenty businesses are started by migrant workers who returned home from abroad, while 14 enterprises are founded by first-degree relatives of migrant workers. About 30% of the businesses are created and managed by women, while 59% are created and managed by young people. A number of 23 businesses are started in agriculture, eight in the service sector, while three in the processing industry.
Financial support for farmers affected by natural disasters
The state provides financial assistance for covering the costs of phytosanitary measures taken by business entities as a result of the natural disasters of this year, in particular the late spring frosts. The money will be allocated from the Government’s reserve fund, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Eduard Grama said in a meeting that involved leaders of agricultural associations. “The support will be allocated for covering the costs of phytosanitary treatment for orchards and vineyards that were affected on an area of 10,000 hectares. Of these, 6,500 hectares were affected by frosts, while another about 3,500 hectares by hail and torrential rain,” stated Eduard Grama. The money will be allocated based on regulations that are to be worked out by specialists of the Ministry in the near future. These will be consulted with agricultural associations.
Financing from national fund for regional development for 19 projects
The National Council for Regional Coordination and Development approved 19 infrastructure projects that will get financing to the value of 149 million lei from the national fund for regional development. “Given that we are already close to yearend and face absorption-related problems, we laid emphasis on the support for projects that were earlier supported and are being implemented,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Octavian Calmac, who heads the National Council for Regional Coordination and Development. A sum of 54 million lei will be allocated for the North area, 34.3 million lei for the Center area, almost 46 million lei for the South area and 5 million lei for the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.
