Government will ask WTO to increase duty on the import of sugar into Moldova

The Moldovan Government will ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to raise the duty on the import of sugar into Moldova from 10% to at least 50%. At Wednesday’s meeting, the Government decided to initiate negotiations to modify the protocol on Moldova’s joining of the Marrakech Agreement regarding the constitution of the World Trade Organization because the 10% import duty agreed with the WTO member states is low and threatens the existence and development of this sector in Moldova. According to the Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Viorel Melnic, the tax concessions for certain groups of goods given during the years after Moldova joined the WHO were too high and did not allow to adequately protect the domestic market from the massive imports from abroad. The deputy minister considers that the sugar industry is the most susceptible sector, as it is based on sugar beet processing and the production costs are two-three times higher than when processing sugar cane. Over the past years, the Moldovan authorities have tried to support this sector by implementing safeguarding measures on the import of sugar into Moldova and by providing subsidies to agricultural producers. But the given measures had a temporary character and did not enable to ensure a sustainable and predictable development, Melnic says. The request to raise the sugar import duty up to 50% was made by the Union of Sugar Producers of Moldova. When joining the WTO, Moldova made a number of commitments regarding, in particular, imported goods’ access to the home market. All these commitments were approved and ratified by the Moldovan Parliament through the Law on Moldova’s Accession to the WTO of June 1, 2001. The WTO agreements envisage the renegotiation of the earlier assumed commitments.