Regional development is a priority, but also an element on which the country's sustainable development depends, Prime Minister Vlad Filat said in the opening of the conference “Regional Development Accomplishments and Challenges in the Contest of International Cooperation” on Friday, Info-Prim Neo reports. The conference was held to mark the completion of the “Moldova: Cooperation in Regional Development” Project that during two years helped the Government to formulate the regional development policy and to develop the institutional capacities for implementing it. Vlad Filat said the Government aims to attain sustainable development by harmonizing the national sector policies and the local economic development policies, encouraging the local and regional initiatives, and promoting cooperation between the central and local authorities. Minister of Regional Development and Construction Marcel Raducan said an institutional framework that coordinates the implementation of regional policies was created in 2010 with the support of the development partners. The Regional Development Agencies “Nord”, “Centru” and “Sud” started work and there were set up regional development councils that agree the development priorities in regions. According to the minister, one of the greatest accomplishments is the selection of 56 regional infrastructure project that will be financed from the National Regional Development Fund in 2010 – 2012. Fourteen of them have been launched last yearend. They will be implemented at a cost of 110,000 lei. The fund was augmented by €1.75 million in 2010. This sum was provided by DFID as a grant. However, 2 billion lei is needed to implement the 56 projects selected and others that are being designed. “The establishment of partnerships between the local public authorities is a major regional policy goal this year. They will enable to launch projects with regional impact and attract foreign financing for them,” Marcel Raducan said. Economist Alexandru Muravschi, team head within the “Moldova: Cooperation in Regional Development” Project, said the local authorities should aim to establish sustainable partnerships as this is a precondition for devising regional projects eligible for financing, including from European funds. Project director Martin Rimmer said Moldova made important steps towards regional development during the last year. A number of foreign backers, including Romania, announced they will support such projects. The population will feel the effects of the regional policies in a year or two, when the first regional development projects are completed. The project was implemented by a consortium created by Oxford Policy Management, the University of Birmingham and the Institute for Public Policy of Moldova, with financial support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.