New opportunities for boosting Moldovan-Russian cooperation

The Moldovan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Russian Business Council signed a cooperation memorandum. The document was signed by the deputy head of the CCI Valeriu Didilica and by the chairman of the Russian Business Council Valeri Iurkov. They hope that the implementation of the memorandum provisions will boost the exchange of information and will allow to solve the problems of companies engaged in bilateral trade more rapidly, Info-Prim Neo reports. The memorandum was signed during the Moldovan-Russian Economic Forum, which takes place in Chisinau on November 15-16. The event gathered representatives of 70 Russian companies and of 150 local companies. Russian Ambassador to Moldova Farit Muhametsin said that 40 subjects of the Russian Federation established cooperation relations with Moldovan partners and there are 28 regional cooperation agreements. “Russian companies obtained detailed information about the economic situation in Moldova, about your investment programs and the objects available for privatization. It’s important that we got first-hand information”, said the diplomat. The businessmen highlighted a series of obstacles to bilateral trade, especially problems related to the difficult customs procedures of both countries. Deputy Minister of Economy Octavian Calmic said that one of the urgent needs was to remove exceptions from the free trade regime, such as quantitative restrictions on some goods. These issues will be discussed during the 13th meeting of the intergovernmental Moldovan-Russian Commission on Economic Cooperation, which takes place today, November 16, in Chisinau, and which will be attended by Deputy Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. For the first time, representatives of the Transnistrian region were invited to the meeting. The Russian Federation is Moldova’s largest trade partner. In the last 9 months, Moldovan exports in Russia increased by 10% to $475 million. Imports increased by 5% to $566 million. There are 812 Russian-owned companies in Moldova.