The executive instituted a group for negotiating the lending agreement between the Government of Moldova and the Government of Poland for extending the Polish assistance loan. The group will be headed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Gheorghe Gaberi, IPN reports.

The negotiations will be opened during Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s visit to Moldova. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Viorel Gutu said the loan is intended for modernizing agriculture, especially such sectors as animal-breeding and the production, post-harvest, storage and supply of vegetables and animal products.

Currently, Moldova has no certified abattoir for exporting meat to the EU. The production units do not meet the European standards in terms of safety for consumers. Problems are also encountered in providing the vegetable growing sector with machinery for sowing root crops. There are not enough storehouses for keeping and processing vegetables.

About €100 million is needed for modernizing the two sectors. The Government of Poland expressed readiness to provide a technical loan to Moldova at an interest rate of 0.2% a year, repayable in 25 years, with a grace period of 10 years.