More than 500 young persons from 100 settlements were trained within the project “Supporting the implementation of the migration and development component of the EU – Moldova Mobility Partnership”. 11% of them are novice entrepreneurs, while the others plan to start a business. The data were made public in a roundtable meeting held by the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Moldova (ODIMM) in partnership with the International Organization for Migration Mission to Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. The young people are aged between 18 and 30. They attended 24 training courses where they gained knowledge of organizational, legal and financial aspects of registering and managing a company. In the end, they were able to take part in a contest of business ideas. The best projects received grants of €2,000. The total sum of the grants is €180,000, said ODIMM director general Iulia Iabanji. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said the business training of young people makes many persons to abandon the idea of going abroad to look for a job. “The pressure exerted by the social sphere on the budget is great. The situation would have been different if the over 800,000 Moldovans working abroad had worked at home. Most of them are young, able to work persons,” he stated. Martin Andreas Wyss, head of the International Organization for Migration Mission to Moldova, said the problem of unemployment among young people and their migration is not local. The young people in other countries also go abroad to look for a better job. But such programs help them and stimulate them to find a job at home. It is important that these stimulation measures are sustainable. The project “Supporting the implementation of the migration and development component of the EU – Moldova Mobility Partnership will continue in 2012.