The signing of eventual free trade agreements with Egypt, China and the EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) would create new investment opportunities so that Moldova could become a platform for processing raw material and could later export finished products. Currently, the Ministry of Economy is in the process of obtaining the mandate for opening negotiations on the free trade agreement with China, Deputy Prime Minister Octavian Calmac, Minister of Economy, stated in a roundtable meeting entitled “Export opportunities of Moldovan business entities offered by eventual free trade agreements with China, Egypt and EFTA states”, IPN reports.
Octavian Calmac said the Moldovan goods are poorly competitive on other markets, but the customs duties are also rather high, especially in case of wine and tobacco products. Thus, besides the benefits provided by the free trade agreements with the Commonwealth of Independent States and the European Union, Moldova could also benefit from more possibilities through the free trade agreements with China, Egypt and the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) states. “By signing free trade agreements, Moldova can extend its commercial possibilities and can obtain those commercial preferences, like exemption from import and export duties and taxes with an equivalent effect,” stated the minister of economy.
According to a feasibility study conducted by experts of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the signing of an agreement with Egypt would be advantageous to Moldova as almost all the products with export potential could be fully liberalized, except for the alcoholic and tobacco products. The access to the Egyptian market is rather difficult namely owing to the taxes of up to 40%, especially on textile products. Currently, Moldova exports to Egypt mainly wine and tobacco products.
In this connection, speaking about the advantages of the free trade with China, Octavian Calmac said a feasibility study of the opportunity of negotiating and signing a free trade agreement was conducted in concert with the Chinese side during five months. It is estimated that Moldova’s exports to China will increase by 39.85%, while Moldova’s Gross Domestic Product will grow by 0.42%. “The signing of a free trade agreement with the People’s Republic of China forms part of the objectives to attract investment to the sectors of the national economy, which were set in Moldova’s investment attraction and export promotion strategy,” stated the Deputy Prime Minister.
Referring to the agreement with the EFTA states, Octavian Calmac said trade with Switzerland and Norway is now based on a unilateral preferential regime provided within the Generalized System Preferences, while the commercial regime with Iceland is based on MFN (Most Favored Nations) taxes within the World Trade Organization, with both of the regimes including high taxes on most of the agricultural products.
According to the results of the feasibility study, the potential agreement with the EFTA states will offer the Moldovan producers access to their markets, with some exceptions for agricultural products on which EFTA does not offer concessions or these could be liberalized at a very low level.
The Ministry of Economy called on the business community to submit proposals for finalizing the negotiation positions.
