Privatisation Agency will be reorganised into Public Property Agency

The Privatisation Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Trade will be transformed into the Public Property Agency. The Government will announce a recruitment contest to employ about 60 staff members. Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon told the reporters on Wednesday that the number of employees at the new agency will be the same. The stress will be laid on the optimisation of some duties and on making the agency more efficient. Igor Dodon says that the authorities hope to employ new people, but if some of those that work for the current Privatisation Agency prove they are able to cope with the new requirements, they will remain to work for the new agency. The Government made such a decision on Wednesday in order to implement the stipulations of the law on the administration and denationalisation of state property, which was recently passed by the Parliament. According to Dodon, when the law beings to apply the emphasis will be placed on the efficient use of the state property because there will appear new denationalisation methods. Besides privatisation of the state holding, now there are additional possibilities, such as the private-public partnership or the entrusting of enterprise management to certain persons. The Ministry of Economy and Trade will play the key role in the denationalisation and administration of government property. It will work out policies in the area, while the Public Property Agency will be the instrument for managing this process. Under the legislation, the agency will be set up within two months. The state budget for this year envisages incomes of 155 mln lei from privatisation. Over a million lei has been accumulated so far, the minister says. According to him, the list of facilities that will be privatised was published and the privatisation process will start at the end of September or early in October. Given the great interest in the state assets and the rise in foreign investments, we consider that the plan for collecting incomes from privatisation will be fulfilled this year, said Igor Dodon, quoted by Info-Prim Neo.