The Republic of Moldova will have a Naval Agency that will supervise the naval transport sector. Deputy Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Sergiu Bucataru said in Parliament that the authority will monitor and certify vessels, will keep a record of maritime personnel and will control traffic in ports and on rivers. A bill to this effect was adopted by the MPs by a majority of votes in the first reading on July 6, IPN reports.
Sergiu Bucataru said the Naval Agency will be a self-financing authority whose main source of income will be the registration of ships. “The goal is to strengthen the institutional capacities of the Agency with a view to reducing the number of ships that do not meet the international requirements and that pose a threat to the maritime security of the state and to the environment,” stated the deputy minister. He specified that the foundation of the Naval Agency derives from the provisions of the Association Agreement with the EU and from the reforms aimed at removing Moldova from the blacklist of the Paris Memorandum.
Sergiu Bucataru noted that the ships will be included in the Naval Register only with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration so as to prevent the registration of ships with a dubious past under the colors of Moldova. Each ship will be inspected technically in the state where it is registered at least once a year. Otherwise, the ship will be struck off the list, while the vessels that will not be registered by the national authority will be unable to return to Moldova’s waters.
