The German Federal Government offered 8.5 million euros in financial assistance to the Government of Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the Government’s press service. The money is provided under a protocol signed by Moldova’s Minister of State Victor Bodiu and Otmar Greiff, of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, on November 16. Under the document, 5 million euros will be directed to the Social Investment Fund, which earlier also benefited from German financial assistance. The other 3.5 million euros designed for technical cooperation will be distributed to the following projects: Modernization of the Agricultural Sector, Modernization of the Public Utilities, Support to Craftsmen’s Chamber and Professional Formation, and to the Studies and Specialists Fund. ”In this period of economic and financial crisis, we want to support the Government of Moldova, first of all the Moldovan people, and decided to treble the volume of assistance compared with 2008. This money is intended mainly for the rural population and for small and medium-sized companies that have been most seriously affected by the crisis,” Otmar Greiff said. The technical and financial assistance offered by the Federal Republic of Germany to Moldova now totals about 40 million euros.