The introduction of customs duties on Moldovan products by Russia represents a powerful wish to attract Moldova to its sphere of influence, head of the International Relations Department of the Institute of International Relations of Moldova Nicolae Afanas said in the program “Place for dialogue” on Radio Moldova station, IPN reports..
According to Afanas, denouncing the Association Agreement would be a short-term solution to this problem, but this is impossible. However, there are two real ways for solving the problems of the Moldovan producers: to pay increased attention to the internal market that is full of imported fruits and to conquer new markets. “It is harder to implement the second solution as several years and a powerful promotion policy will be required for our producers to gain a place on the EU market. In this case, they can follow two ways – to decrease prices or to improve the quality,” stated the professor.
He expressed his concern about the possible unilateral trade with Russia. The Moldovan products will not be sold in Russia, but Moldova will have to purchase gas and oil products from Russia as it will have no alternative.
However, Afanas is optimistic that the situation will improve as all the documents by which the Russian authorities banned the import of Moldovan products are based on technical problems. “Russia invoked phytosanitary and technical problems that we must solve, even if the main reason is political in character. But our producers must not treat the European and Russian markets in a different way and export products of a doubtful quality to Russia,” he stated.
