A number of 33 entrepreneurs on April 4 signed contracts to get financing for businesses they run to the value of 6.6m lei within this year’s edition of the PARE 1+1 program, IPN reports.

According to the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (ODIMM), of the 33 businesspersons who signed financing contracts, 20 work in agriculture and intend to grow grain, grapes, aromatic plants and vegetables on protected areas. Another seven provide educational, medical and catering services, while six operate in the agrifood and wood processing industries.

The PARE 1+1 program aims to mobilize the financial resources of Moldovans who work abroad. The state allocates 1 leu for each leu invested by Moldovan migrants or their relatives, but not more than 200,000 lei per business. The program was launched in 2010 and during seven years has helped start almost 1,000 businesses with state allocations of 163 million lei.

Recently, ODIMM has announced that the rural entrepreneurs in 2017 will be the target of the PARE 1+1 program with a budget of 40 million lei for this year. Financing will become available in May.