The Ministry of Economy will pay much more attention to increasing the competitiveness of merchandise shipped abroad, stated Economy Deputy Minister Octavian Calmic, at a press conference. According to the official, the tariff barriers in trade will further be eliminated, and customs procedures will be improved and simplified. The Ministry of Economy has also elaborated a bill that would make primary goods used to make export merchandise VAT-free. The bill is available for public debates on the website of the Ministry, reports Info-Prim Neo. According to the Deputy Minister, these measures are up-to-date, especially in the context of decreasing trends in exports registered in for this year's 8 months. Thus, in the period January-August period, merchandise exports summed up to $1.361 billion, which is 0.1% less that last year's same period. EU exports has especially decreased in shipments of products produce by outsourced labor, i.e. footwear, clothing items, textiles, other products made using primary goods from foreign clients, who are ultimately shipped the final product. Most of these clients are mostly from Italy, Spain, and other crisis-affected countries. Meanwhile, exports to the CIS have grown by over 7%. Imports, in the same period, have grown by 2.3%. The import to export ratio, for this year's first 8 months, was of 41.5%, down from 42.4% registered during last year's same period.