Moldovan goods lose grounds on quality and price, Gheorghe Cucu

The enhancement of the companies’ competitiveness is the major problem of the Moldovan economy, said the president of the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) Gheorghe Cucu, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to his report on the Chamber’s activity this year, which was presented at the yearly meeting of the CTI, the exports over ten months rose by 27% year on year, but covered only 33% of the imports, as against 36% in the corresponding period last year, even if the Moldovan companies can export goods to 44 European and CIS countries with 700 million consumers duty-free. “We don’t have products that can be exported or the goods that we export lose ground to the foreign goods on quality and price,” Cucu said. He also said that many Moldovan entrepreneurs do not want to change their attitude. “They say that their products are of a high quality and are praised at different exhibitions owing to their taste and outer appearance. But the European Union member states and other countries implement standards and qualification systems. These aspects in Moldova are often neglected, being considered as unimportant or belonging to a faraway future. Gheorghe Cucu said that the World Bank Competitiveness Enhancement Project that is under implementation covers 50% of the costs of implementing the ISO quality management system for companies. “We informed 4,000 companies about this project, but only 400 or 10% of them expressed interest and only 218 companies turned out to be eligible for financing. Later, it was ascertained that 40 more companies do not meet the management and quality criteria. Consequently, only 68 economic entities implemented the ISO system since 2007 until present. This is a very low number,” Cucu said. Gheorghe Cucu considers that the necessity of a modern quality certification system becomes more acute. There are no laboratories that would work according to European principles and no modern consultancy services. “There are a number of issues that we will address and the Government should also engage as the improvement of the real sector’s competitiveness is now the key problem of Moldova’s economy alongside the restructuring of the system for preparing specialists. Therefore, the major task of the CTI in 2008 was and remains the enhancement of the Moldovan companies’ competitiveness,” Gheorghe Cucu said.