Participants in PARE 1+1 program sure that business can be done at home too

A number of Moldovans who returned from abroad and started a business in Moldova through the Program for Attracting Remittances into the Economy PARE 1+1 presented their success stories in a conference in Chisinau on February 8. Attending the event, Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said the PARE 1+1 will be extended until 2015, while for 2013 there will be allocated 32 million lei, which means more investments, compared with the previous years, Info-Prim Neo reports. The minister said only the entrepreneurs who will present new and competitive businesses ideas will be given priority for co-financing. “We will no longer finance technologies of the 19th century. If there are five good projects and one that will propose innovative technology, this project will be given precedence,” said Valeriu Lazar. The Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Dirk Schuebel said that this program is part of the EU big budget support for rural development, which started in 2010, and they will provide altogether €42 million. In addition, last year, through the application of the more-for-more principle, it was decided that this budget support will receive an additional €14 million, and part of these funds, namely €4.5 million, will be used to top up this PARE 1+1 Program. The ambassador also said that when the Association Agreement with the EU is signed, the Moldovan entrepreneurs will have access to a huge market and will be able to export national products. “A plus for Moldova is the agricultural production that will be exported to the European Union and there will be a series of advantages as many taxes will be eliminated,” said Dirk Schuebel. Vasile Goncear, craftsman from Hoginesti, Calarasi, said he worked in Italy for 10 years and held executive posts there. When he returned home and saw the village in ruins and without young people, he decided to change the situation. He started to make ceramic objects so as to revive this craft. He helped to renovate the school and to build a kindergarten in the village and opened a training center for young people fond of pottery. Diana Crudu from Durlesti studied in Romania and returned to Moldova to start a business. She set up a cattle farm and also began to cultivate table grapes of European sorts so as to be able to export them. “The young people of Moldova shouldn’t complain that they were born in the wrong place and at the wrong time or that the government is inappropriate. They must dream, work and develop the country’s potential at home,” she stated. The program operates under the rule of “1 +1”, so every MDL invested from remittances will be substituted with a MDL in the form of a grant of maximum 200,000 lei from the program. The program was supported financially by the EU in 2011-2012. The Economy Ministry’s Organization for the Development of the SME Sector and the International Fund for Agricultural Development are holding negotiations to identity financial resources for financing the program in 2014-2015.