About US$1.5 million was invested in the free economic zones (ZELs) in the first quarter of this year. 34.7% of the investments were made into ZEL Expo – Business – Chisinau, while 25% into ZEL Ungheni – Business, Info-Prim Neo has learned from the Ministry of Economy. The total net sales increased considerably. The sales in January – March rose by 10.6% in current prices compared with the corresponding period last year, to 486 million lei or 7.4% of the industrial production. The production of cognac rose over twofold, of carpets – 1.6 times, of furniture - 24%, of alternative fuel – sevenfold. The resident companies of the ZELs produced about 123,000 decaliters of grape wine, 78 million corks, 73,000 liters of paint, 1.1 million square meters of carpets, etc. The largest part of the industrial products made at the free economic zones, to the value of 404 million lei or 83.1%, was exported. According to the Ministry of Economy, the main administrators of the ZELs consider the resident companies could produce and export more if there weren’t a number of problems related to the customs regime, including those that appeared after the adoption of a Government Decision in December 2011, by which the procedure for declaring goods at customs for the residents of ZELs was toughened up. Thus, many investment projects planned to be implemented in the free economic zones were hindered. In Moldova there are seven free economic zones with 164 resident companies and 6,055 employees. The investments made in the ZELs since their foundation came to US$145.9 million on April 1, 2012.