● TUESDAY, October 21

Unit for distributing Polish loan to be created 

The Cabinet approved the creation of a unit for distributing the €100 million assistance loan provided by the Government of Poland. 90% of this loan is intended for agriculture. The unit will be a public, nonprofit institution managed by the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture, which was authorized to implement the part of the loan designed for agriculture. 10% of this loan, intended for industry and the related infrastructure, will be managed by the Implementation Unit of the grant provided by the Government of Japan.

Moldova to borrow €7m from EBRD for modernizing CET-Nord 

The Republic of Moldova will take out a loan of €7 million for modernizing the thermoelectric plant CET-Nord. The decision on the signing of the financing agreement was approved in the October 20 meeting of the Government. The cost of the project is €10 million, €3 million of which is a grant provided by the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and the Environment Partnership Fund. The EBRD’s loan is repayable in 15 years, with a grace period of two years, at the LIBOR (London interbank offered rate) rate + a margin of 1-2% a year.

Smaller compensations, but to all apple growers 

The Government approved amendments to the regulations concerning the provision of financial support to apple growers approved on September 14. The money that remained in the funds for compensating plum growers will be reallocated to apple growers. Under the regulations approved on September 14, compensations of 1.2 lei/kg were to be provided for 40,000 tonnes of plums. The apple producers were to be compensated with 1.5 lei/kg for a total quantity of 60,000 tonnes. “Until September 15, by when the plum growers were to submit applications, there were filed fewer applications than expected. After exchanging opinions with associations of producers, we proposed that the rest of the money should be offered to apple growers as they asked for compensations for a larger quantity of apples than we anticipated. Thus, the remaining 108 million lei of the 143 million lei will be redirected to apple growers,” said Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov.

Expert-Grup launches State of Nation Report 2014 

Moldova in 2013 witnessed a record GDP growth of 8.9%, but this growth is fragile and will not have continuity. The country completed the ‘easy’ reforms stage and now needs structural and institutional reforms to reduce the discrepancy between the living standards in Moldova and those in the countries of the region, says the State of the Nation Report 2014 presented by the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup” within the international conference “MACRO 2014”. Report co-author Adrian Lupusor explained that the economic growth was partially due to the growth in agriculture that recovered after last year’s drought and the depreciation of the leu. According to him, these factors cannot be replaced and the economic growth will be affected by the decline in exports and consumption and the amorphous investment activity.

● WEDNESDAY, October 22

Customs Union is not an option for Moldova, Andrian Candu 

The Customs Union is not a real option for developing Moldova, but this does not mean that the economic relations with Russia should be terminated. Instead, the European Union can help Moldova become a modern and competitive state, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Andrian Candu said in an interview given to Deutsche Welle after meeting with a number of German officials and European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger. “Moldova has signed the Association Agreement with the EU, which includes the DCFTA that started to be applied on September 1 this year. What does this mean for my country? It means modernization, new standards and quality. The EU offers us a unique chance to transform Moldova from the poorest country of Europe into a modern, competitive country with the rule of law. Only this way will we manage to guarantee the observance of consumers’ rights and to make competition a norm,” stated Andrian Candu.

Russia bans import of meat from Moldova 

The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of Russia (Rosselhoznadzor) decided to ban the import of meat and meat products from Moldova into Russia starting with October 27. The Russian news agency Itar-tass reported that the announcement was made by the Rosselhoznadzor chief Sergey Dankvert after a mission of experts inspected the meat factories of Moldova. According to Dankvert, Moldova exports meat whose origin is not known as it is purchased from farmers or at village markets. The meat often does not meet the safety standards and there were cases when the veterinary certificates weren’t authentic.

New cooperation initiative with EBRD 

A new cooperation initiative between the Government of Moldova and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been launched. A memorandum of understanding in this respect was signed in Chisinau by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, in the presence of the head of the EBRD Office in Moldova Julia Otto, on October 22. On behalf of the EBRD, the document was signed by the EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti in London. Iurie Leanca said that Moldova took a number of steps towards real democracy that is based on the principles of market economy, but a lot of work is yet to be done. “We need more transparency and must hasten the reforms so as to create a better business climate for the businesspeople, the investors to be able to create more jobs, to boost exports and to help improve the living conditions in Moldova,” he stated.

Vasile Bumacov: Russia’s decision to ban meat imports is groundless 

The decision to ban the import of meat and meat products from Moldova into Russia starting with October 27 is unfounded, said Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov, when asked to comment on related Russian press reports. The Russian press reported that the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of Russia (Rosselhoznadzor) decided to ban the import of meat and meat products from Moldova after a mission of experts inspected the Moldovan meat factories.

● THURSDAY, October 23

 Information about Moldovan companies available free on Internet 

The information of public character concerning the companies existing in Moldova was posted on the Internet following an instruction given by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca. This information is available free on the portal date.gov.md. According to a communiqué of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister, so far the access to this information was limited. The applicants had to pay a commission of 36 to 540 lei for obtaining it, depending on the type of information and the period during which it was provided. Now that the data are being opened, this information will be available online free of charge.

● FRIDAY, October 24

Eurolot will launch a new flight from Chisinau to Warsaw 

The Polish regional airline Eurolot will launch flights from Chisinau, Moldova, to Warsaw, Poland, beginning on October 26, 2014. Flights will be operated by the Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft that can seat 78 passengers. Moldovans can also take advantage of the code-share agreement with LOT Polish Airlines, the Polish national carrier. The cooperation enables passengers to make a quick and convenient connection at the Warsaw airport to other LOT flights, including long-haul routes – to Chicago, Toronto, New York or Beijing. Moreover, the agreement makes it easier to purchase tickets by passengers of both airlines. One of the advantages is the possibility to use a single ticket from Chisinau to Warsaw with Eurolot and to other destinations with LOT.

● SATURDAY,  October 25

Vasile Bumacov: Meat from Moldova is of high quality 

The meat produced in Moldova is inoffensive and of a high quality. Moldova is not affected by hog cholera or African swine fever like Russia and other countries of the region. Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said Russia decided to ban the import of Moldovan meat for political reasons and continues to import meat from the countries where the mentioned diseases are found in animals. The official considers that internal meat consumption must be promoted in Moldova so as to reduce imports of meat that are sometimes of a very poor quality. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, Vasile Bumacov said he didn’t receive an official confirmation from the Russian authorities as to the halt in the import of Moldovan meat. “I want to reiterate that this thing has nothing to do with agriculture and our companies. This is a political matter,” he stated.