The Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU have a positive impact on Moldova’s economy, experts of the German Economic Team (GET) Moldova established as a result of an analysis. In a news conference at IPN, the experts said Moldova’s exports to the EU rose from US$400 million in 2004 to over US$1.3 billion in 2016.

Economist Woldemar Walter said an upward trend was witnessed in trade with the EU, interrupted by foreign stocks such as the world economic crisis of 2008 and the decline in raw material prices in 2015. In 2016, exports to the EU increased and the expectations are that they will continue to grow. Almost two-thirds of Moldova’s exports are destined for the EU and half of imports are supplied from the EU.

“Companies from both of the sides, the EU and Moldova, are those that developed profitable businesses,” said GET Moldova leader Ricardo Giucci, Berlin Economics director. He noted that the free market not the statements of politicians contributed to these results.

At the same time, the experts said that while exports to the EU increased, those to the Russian Federation declined. However, there is no correlation between these aspects. “It is absolutely normal for particular persons to consider that there is a correlation between these tendencies, but this is not so,” said Ricardo Giucci. Exports to Russia diminished, but not due to the DCFTA, but because Russia experienced an economic crisis and the Russian rule depreciated powerfully so that the purchasing power of the Russians decreased and their imports from all the countries diminished. “The decline in exports to Russia was determined by the recession in Russia and the sanctions imposed by it on the Republic of Moldova,” said the Berlin Economics director.

The German experts consider there is no need to decide whether to freely trade with Russia or with the EU, as the DCFTA is fully compatible with the existing free trade with Russia. Moldova should aim to secure free trade with both sides as well as with other countries. The Free Trade Agreement obtained by Moldova with Turkey is a positive consequence of the DCFTA with the EU as this state is part of the European trade area, stated Ricardo Giucci.