Moldovan Wine Festival will be held in China in the second half of 2008

A Moldovan Wine Festival will take place in the People’s Republic of China in the second half of this year. The festival participants will make a broad presentation of the investment opportunities provided by Moldova. Such a decision was reached at the fourth joint Moldovan-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission for Commercial-Economic Cooperation held in Chisinau between March 7 and 10, Info-Prim Neo reports. At a news conference on March 10, Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon, the co-president of the Commission on behalf of Moldova, said that the meeting’s agenda included 12 issues concerning the bilateral cooperation and the strengthening of relations in trade, industry, agriculture, advanced technology, free economic zones, tourism, healthcare, science, technical assistance. “Trade between Moldova and China in 2007 rose by 73.9% to 203.9 million USD. China is Moldova’s sixth import partner by the volume of imports. Moldova’s exports to this country increased 2.7 times,” Dodon said. The minister spoke about a number of projects that will be launched in the near future. Besides the organization of the Moldovan Wine Festival in China, the Moldovan authorities expressed readiness to open an industrial park for Chinese companies only in Moldova. The place where the park will be located is now being considered. For their part, the Chinese authorities will provide approximately 5 million yuan (about 800,000 USD) for opening a Center of Chinese Medicine in Chisinau. The agreement concerning the financing of the construction works was signed on March 10. China could also contribute money to building and furnishing a school in Moldova. Igor Dodon said that the Chinese delegation includes a representative of the Chinese Eximbank, which finances projects in infrastructure. The given bank will thoroughly analyze a number of projects for repairing roads and railway lines and renovating the airport and will decide which ones to support financially. The co-president of the Commission on behalf of China Xu Tongkai, director general of the Department of European Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said that though the Moldovan-Chinese commercial relations are developing, the potential is not fully realized. “We are ready to support the Moldovan companies to enter the Chinese market, socially the wine businesses. Through Eximbank, China will finance large-scale projects of Chinese companies in Moldova. We will continue to provide technical assistance to Moldova in healthcare, culture, education and other sectors,” the Chinese official said. The Commission will convene for a new meeting in China in the second half of the next year.