Trade between Moldova and Romania is now three times larger than in 2010. This is due inclusively to the improvement of the political relations between the two states, Romania’s Ambassador in Chisinau Marius Lazurca said in the public discussion “Moldovan-Romanian relations: evolutions, expectations, quality measurements” that was organized by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova.

According to the diplomat, one of the explanations is related to the ban imposed by Russia on the import of Moldovan products, based on political criteria, in the context of the negotiation and signing by Moldova of the Association Agreement with the EU. “What the Russian market lost, the Romanian market gained. What hit the Moldovan exporters on the part of Russia, healed the Romanian market,” stated Marius Lazurca.

The diplomat noted that in 2010 Romania was the third largest trading partner of Moldova, but now is the most important partner by far. ”This is the consequence of a number of factors. First of all, it is the effect of improvement, normalization of our political relations. It’s clear that the investors are waiting for political signals for entering a market. The exporters also look at the political relations before becoming involved in contracts and before taking out loans for exporting and importing. I would not underestimate the connection between the quality of the political relations and success, the dynamic of the economic relations,” he said.

As to investments, Marius Lazurca said that Romania ranks 7th-8th by the volume of investments in Moldova. One of the reasons for such a rank is the Romanian investors’ unwillingness to leave the country. “Only 1% of Romania’s GDP comes from investments made abroad. We don’t know what to do, to use the instruments we have, but it’s time to overcome this situation,” stated the ambassador.

According to him, the fact that the Romanian investors weren’t always welcome in Moldova is another reason. “The explanation is somewhere in the middle of these two causes,” stated Marius Lazurca.

The public discussion of April 29 forms part of the 53rd installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are staged with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.