The Moldovan Parliament voted in the first reading to withdraw from the 1992 International Sugar Agreement and cancel our country’s membership in the International Sugar Organization (ISO).
In recent years, sugar beet plantations in Moldova shrunk and the overall production dropped, reducing the rationality for keeping the ISO membership.
Among other reasons are the impossibility to participate in the plenary meetings of the ISO Council and to meet the obligation of periodically providing extensive statistical reports on the production and processing of sugar beet, which requires administrative and human resource costs.
Moreover, the ISO declined Moldova’s request to have the number of its votes reduced so that its membership fee could be reduced proportionally as well. This year, our country owes about 140,000 lei.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, the decision to withdraw was taken following an analysis of development trends in sugar production and the existing stocks, as well as consultation with relevant stockholders. The withdrawal will not have internal, bilateral, regional or multilateral consequences and will not create barriers for concluding other treaties, the authorities say.
