The importance of the Japanese investments in Moldova, the areas that hold interest for Japanese business entities and how tourists can be attracted to Moldova were the themes raised by Moldova’s Ambassador to Japan Vasile Bumacov in an interview for IPN News Agency.
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– Mister Ambassador, we intentionally allowed some time to pass for you to adjust to the new post in Tokyo. How would you now characterize the relations between Moldova and Japan? What circumstances led to the opening of embassies of the two states in Chisinau and Japan this year?
– The opening of embassies in Tokyo and Chisinau was a really concrete step towards developing the bilateral relations. Surely it was also the correction of a mistake made earlier. We should have done this long ago if we had taken into account the fact that Japan was and continues to be a supporter of our country both financially, being the third donor after the U.S. and the EU, and politically. Countries that obtained independence much later than the Republic of Moldova immediately opened here embassies, while the ex-Soviet republics opened embassies in Japan in the 1990s. Moreover, something had to be done as the generous assistance from the Government of Japan after 2013 was practically stopped. The fact that the Moldovan officials groundlessly refused several important high-level meetings proposed by the Government of Japan and didn’t go to Tokyo was one of the reasons. The problems faced in the financial-banking sector of our country became known afterward.
– What bilateral projects are implemented now and in what areas and what new projects are planned?
– In the ceremonies to inaugurate the embassies in Chisinau and Tokyo, Japanese officials confirmed that Japan will continue to provide support to our country in the process of modernizing the health and education systems, agriculture and industry. Japan will firmly support Moldova’s European integration efforts. The loan of US$60 million provided by Japan for outfitting medical institutions with modern equipment continues to be put to good use. There are also projects to support education institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises, to produce electric power from renewable sources of energy and others.
This June, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) delegated a mission to our country with the aim of identifying the areas that are eligible for future cooperation. As a result, the following areas were selected for financing projects: small and medium-sized enterprises, health, and agriculture, which are considered to have greater development potential and capacities to efficiently use the funds. Afterward, as a result of this visit, the JICA chose a group of experts who this year and next year will make a series of fact-finding visits to our country. Afterward, the team of consultants will work out project proposals that could be financed. Additionally, there will be examined such areas as support and modernization of food safety and export capacity, conservation agriculture and others. Japan is ready to offer us preferential loans for development, in the best conditions, especially for renovating water treatment stations. Regrettably, we didn’t identify national institutions interested in this area, even if we throw thousands of tonnes of dirt and residue water into the Nistru River.
– Which areas of activity are attractive for Japanese investors in Moldova and why? What the flow of Japanese money and technology to Moldova depends on the most?
– As you know, the Japanese people are good at everything. The presence of Japanese companies can serve as a barometer of the investment climate. The launch of Japanese investments in Moldova would be an encouraging sign for other investors. We agreed with experts from Japan that after the successful implementation of the project to use biomass for heating schools and kindergartens in Moldova, a very difficult but useful project will be already possible in Moldova, but we will also have to move to a higher cooperation level than that of grant assimilation. At the next project implementation stage, we will have to pay greater attention to the involvement of Japanese SMEs in projects. As a result, Japanese specialists will be able to assess our country’s real potential to assimilate investments and to encourage profitable businesses in the Republic of Moldova.
Evidently, the launch of businesses in industry, production of modern equipment and technology would be a great success for us, especially because we had a similar experience in the past. I would underline the importance of producing equipment and technology for the food industry and agriculture, which are now massively imported, and the improvement of the product packing and sorting capacities of the Moldovan companies so as to conquer new markets, even the Japanese one. There are many opportunities. It is important to ensure a positive investment climate and to find reliable partners.
– Recently, Moldovan wine producers took part in Vinexpo Tokyo. What did they impress the Japanese public with? How can our producers conquer the Japanese market and what are their trump cards?
– Vinexpo was the third big presentation of Moldovan wines in Japan this year, besides the more modest presentations staged successfully by the Embassy for chains of hotels and restaurants and within the multiple meetings with officials and diplomats. I can tell you that, undoubtedly, the Moldovan high-quality wines really impress the Japanese consumers, even if practically no one knew much about our country so far. We are lucky because the Moldovan wines perfectly match the Japanese specialties and dishes and their richer bouquet is to Japanese people’s taste. In the Japanese language, the drink is written with two hieroglyphs that mean, mot a mot, what you lack when you have a meal for relishing food.
The winemakers who presented here our strategic product turned out to be great professionals. That’s why their stands were the most visited ones. I hope that in time we will be even more organized, as the Japanese culture requires. I would like to say about our wines that the situation here wasn’t perfect when I took up my duties. Initially, we were shocked by the greediness of some Moldovan businessmen, who brought to Japan wines made in the Soviet period, which were spoiled already, and they sold them at exorbitant prices. With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, we managed to mitigate this impudent diversion against the image of our country and our strategic product. No one should think that the Japanese people would tolerate such a defiant and irresponsible behavior.
– What other products, services and values from Moldova are more attractive for the Japanese market?
– Even if Japan can cultivate some of the tastiest fruits in the world, the imports of fruit into Japan represent over 50% and there is definitely a place for our cherries, plums and walnuts and other fruit and berries that are imported from a similar distance, from California. But the requirements on the Japanese market are very harsh both as regards the quality and the packing. Practically each strawberry, plum and pear is packed here very nicely so as to look attractive to consumers. Japan can also be a good market for our dried and processed fruits.
We hope that we will soon have joint companies for making modern equipment and IT products. This August, a company from Japan that this year has trained here Moldovan specialists in thinking up computer programs to design and make metallic components visited the Republic of Moldova with the aim of opening a branch. At this yearend, the Moldovan specialists will return home and I hope they will successfully start this business.
– If we refer to the other dimension, what services, products and values should we import more from Japan and why?
– We import multiple services, technologies and machines from Japan. Everyone recognizes their exclusive quality and nobody questions this fact. As regards the values, we have a much greater necessity here! We must think how we can import the quality of education, the wish to study, love for the homeland, modesty and respect for those who surround us, ideal cleanness, punctuality and responsibility, fulfillment of obligations better than they were stipulated in the contract. In Japan, there is no such phenomenon as theft. It may exist, with small exceptions. If thefts are committed, these probably involve foreigners. In Japan, you cannot lose something. If you lost something, you will find the lost thing in the place where you left it or at the lost and found offices that exist everywhere. Can you imagine what reputation we have here after the theft of the US$1 billion? And it is ridiculous indeed to ask for US$10 million in assistance after a US$1 billion was stolen.
– Mister Ambassador, how many Japanese people did you teach to eat Moldovan hominy and ewe’s cheese? Do they like this experience?
– I have cooperated with Japanese people for over 17 years. I welcomed in my home dozens of people from Japan and possibly even hundreds at the canteen of the 2KR project. While I served as minister of agriculture, my wish was to promote my area of responsibility and this wish made me cook not only during the National Wine Day celebrations, but also on other different occasions for foreigners, including Japanese people. I know very well and hope that I know what the Japanese like and do not like, even if they can say it is good out of politeness. I continue doing so here. In Japan, 70% of the televised programs are about dishes and cooking. The owners of Moldovan restaurants in Tokyo often appear on TV and tell about our specialties and traditional food. However, you should know that it is yet our wine that helps promote the Moldovan dishes.
The Japanese people, when they return from abroad, speak most about the new and special food they tasted and will mandatorily bring relevant presents. Even if the Japanese cuisine is different and very diverse, being even included in the UNESCO World Heritage, the Japanese people are anyway very curious to discover something new. I want to explain here. I tried hard to register a Moldovan specialty, but the competent bodies opposed vehemently. I don’t know if you know, but our neighbors from Europe registered hundreds of specialties, not to mention the Japanese. In this regard, our winemakers were much more active and innovative, and they succeeded.
The top Moldovan specialty that impressed the Japanese and they can eat it even for breakfast is our chicken soup with homemade noodles. Even if they do not have homegrown chickens here, the meat sold in shops is anyway good for soup. The stuffed cabbage rolls and most of the dishes prepared by our women on Christmas, Easter, Patron Saint Day and other holidays are also welcomed. As regards pork steak, the Japanese people like to eat it in Moldova because the pork is tastier in our country. With the hominy the situation is more difficult. I know that many Moldovans do not like it dry and solid, as they usually make it in our country. The Japanese also do not like it. I told our chefs here several secrets that I applied in 2013, when I cooked in public in the Great National Assembly Square and thus managed to change the Japanese people’s opinion. The ewe’s cheese is good for us because genetically, it remained imprinted in the taste of Moldovans, being inherited from ancient times, when there were no other methods of keeping cheese than salting it until it became hard. As it is rather salty, many foreigners can eat it in only small quantities. But we miss it here.
In Japan, our traditional specialties prepared with pleasure and presented in an appropriate way are surely appreciated. But we must only adjust them slightly to the specific features of the local consumers, as the Italian and French people do. The Japanese people are very attentive to the quality of food. They eat not much but eat food of different kinds simultaneously. They do not eat as our people do at wedding and baptizing ceremonies, where they eat as if it if for the last time in life and there is no tomorrow. The Japanese people put all the products to good use, including the healthy plants that are cultivated here or can be found in woods, lakes and sea. For example, the pumpkin is very popular owing to its curative properties. We made considerable effort to promote it in Moldova because it is cultivated easily and can be found in large quantities, but didn’t make much headway. The people in our country prefer to buy an imported noxious product than to realize our own potential.
If we were more inventive, I assure you that Moldova would not lack tourists. Tourism is a very important industry, but they haven’t realized this yet in our country. Japan is very developed, but tourism is treated as a national priority. Currently Japan is visited annually by 20 million tourists and the authorities make visible effort to reach the figure of 30 million by 2020. If we speak about countries situated closer to us, Greece, for example, is annually visited by about 30 million tourists. If Moldova attracted at least 1 million tourists, these would leave in the country at least US$500 million a year or 10 billion lei a year! We cannot imagine a better investment. The tourists, including the Japanese ones, can be attracted to Moldova first of all by wines, fruit and traditional dishes.
Mariana Galben, IPN
