Second round of DCFTA talks to be held in June

The second round of negotiations on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between Moldova and the European Union will be held in Brussels during June 11-15. The information was revealed at a seminar titled “Opportunities and Challenges of the Agreement for the Business”, organized by the Moldovan Chamber of Trade and Industry with Germany's support, Info-Prim Neo reports. Inga Ionesii, department head at the Ministry of Economy, said the second round would address the contents of the Agreement, after the first round that was held in late March focused on the negotiation mechanism and other technical issues of the negotiations. “Discussions concerning the tariff offers on goods and services will start in autumn with the third round of negotiations”, announced Inga Ionesii. According to her, the Ministry of Economy will cooperate with business organizations and other stakeholders to raise the business community's awareness of the Agreement. For this purpose, a questionnaire has been posted on the Ministry's website inviting the businesses to express their opinions and challenges they face. These will be taken into account when formulating the offers. Earlier both Moldovan and EU officials announced that the talks on the agreement could be completed by the fall of 2013. Economic analyst Alexandru Fala has anticipated that the negotiations on the agrifood chapter will be the most difficult. Uwe Const, an expert in international projects who moderated the seminar, has noted that a challenge for the Moldovan businesses is how to increase productivity and adapt to EU standards.