Economic expert Viorel Girbu, of the Market Economy Institute, considers that the impact of the ban on Moldovan wines imposed by Russia can reach the size of the 2006 embargo. “The wine companies found themselves in the situation to diversify the markets. It will be harder for the exporters of fruit and vegetables as Russia is the main export market for them,” said the expert, quoted by IPN.
According to Viorel Girbu, the governments of Moldova didn’t do much to stimulate the companies to increase competitiveness and to supply products of a high quality on the home and foreign markets. “After Moldova became a fully-fledged member of the World Trade Organization in 2001, no WTO instrument has been used to temporarily support and protect the local companies. These instruments haven’t even been negotiated when the country entered the WTO, for example export subsidies or other temporary concessions,” stated the expert.
According to him, immediate actions should be taken to integrate Moldova into the EU economy so that the national economic entities produce goods whose competitiveness will be comparable to that of the products sold in the EU. It’s good that Moldova is a platform for developing companies with foreign capital, but instruments should be applied to enable the national economic entities to grow. They have limited development possibilities and face many bureaucratic barriers in their work, while financing can be obtained with difficulty.
“The local companies must be helped by mechanisms acceptable in the market economy. When the taxes on imports from the EU member states to Moldova are removed, cheaper goods and goods of a higher quality will come and the national businesses must cope with this competition. Otherwise, our statements about the European integration will remain only statements,” said the expert.
Asked what can be done to avoid other embargoes on the Moldovan products, possibly from the member states of the Customs Union, Viorel Girbu said such a scenario is less probable. Anyway, exports to the EU member states and other countries must be augmented by improving competitiveness of the exported products.
