The World Bank will Offer 14, 3 Million USD to the Republic of Moldova

The World Bank (WB) will manage in the Republic of Moldova a project of 14, 3 million USD for improving the business environment and for improving Moldovan products, informed Aureliu Casian, the executive director of the project implementation unit of WB at the “Small business – 2006” Exhibition. According to the quoted source, the project aims to modernize the Metrology, Standardization, Testing and Quality Management (MSTQ) system by adjusting it to the European standards, facilitating the access of the enterprises to the MSTQ services and increasing the financing of economic agents. Also, the organizers of the project aim to reduce the business constraints and costs, reducing the number of the imposed inspections to the economic agents, promoting regulatory reforms and other actions in order to improve the business environment in Moldova. Aureliu Casian said that as a result of the project’s implementation it is expected that 120 enterprises to be certificated in the area of implementing the management of the quality system, the number of adjusted standards, compatible with those of the EU will reach to the number of 1700 and the number of testing and accreditation laboratories – to 40 units. Beneficiaries of the project can become the small and medium private enterprises that are orientated to export and confront with certain obstacles because of the lack of quality certificates. Of some project components will beneficiate the Ministry of Economy and Commerce the Ministry of Finance, the Service of Standardization and Metrology and the Accreditation Center. Of the total number of allocated resources within the project, 9,8 million USD are offered to the Association for International Development, inclusively 50% as grant and 50% as credits and 4,5 million USD are offered by the Government of Japan as grant. The maximum amount of money for one enterprise will not exceed 10 thousand USD. The economic agents can present the participation documents not earlier than July. Until then the grant administrator is to be appointed and after that an information campaign will be organized, mentioned the representative of WB quoted by Info-Prim Neo.