No pressure is exerted on residents of free economic zones, Customs Service director

No pressure is exerted by the Customs Service on the resident companies working in free economic zones, the institution’s director general Tudor Balitski said when asked by the press to comment on the accusations made in this respect by the Ministry of Economy, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Balitski, such statements damage the image of the Customs Service. He also said that the Ministry of Economy’s responsibilities for improving the business climate and facilitating the entrepreneurial activities should not be shifted onto other institutions. “Our duty is to improve the conditions so that the economic entities go through the customs procedures easier, to remove the barriers to trade and to reduce the time spent in customs,” said the Customs Service’s director. For his part, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said that they should not personalize any statement made. All the state institutions should contribute to the creation of normal work conditions for developing entrepreneurship, no matter whether the economic entities work in free economic zones or not. “We must not become angry when certain shortcomings are emphasized,” stated Lazar. As regards the decision of the German company Draexlmaier not to make the planned investments of about €15 million in the construction of a new factory in the free economic zone in Balti, Valeriu Lazar said that he hopes the company will review its decision. “Everybody is following us. The investors want to see what steps will be taken in this case. We should not forget that Moldova must have evident comparative advantages against the countries of the region so as to become an attractive destination for investors,” he stated. As to the possible solutions in this case, Lazar said that the State Tax Service will either annul the inspection report or the company will sue the local tax inspectorate in Balti because it did not correctly inform it about the provisions of the legislation. The main reason for the dissatisfaction of the businessmen of the German group Draexlmaier is the tax inspections carried out over the last nine months. The dispute appeared after the company tried to open an eatery for 2,500 employees. Something went wrong and the investors decided to allocate financial resources to the employees in assistance for purchasing food. In a period, the Ministry of Finance established that the service for providing financial assistance to the employees wasn’t taxed correctly. Ion Lupan, division head at the Ministry of Economy, told a news conference that the Tax Service, the Customs Service and other institutions have a premeditated attitude and see an offender in every economic entity. “Not long ago, the businesses in the free economic zones were not very transparent. Some of the resident companies committed abuses and were excluded from the zones. Other economic entities came now. They have double bookkeeping and do not aim to make immediate profit because they believe that their investments in Moldova are long-term investments. I do not understand such an attitude. I consider that it should be changed. We have well-known companies among the firms that come to work in the free economic zones and the state institutions are obliged to create good work conditions for them” said Ion Lupan.