The introduction of customs duties on the Russian products imported into Moldova and the conquering of new export markets are some of the proposals for overcoming the consequences of the bans imposed by Russia formulated in the program “Place for dialog” on Radio Moldova station, IPN reports.

Political analyst Roman Mihaes said Chisinau should impose customs duties on the products imported from Russia. “Our shops are full of goods of Russian origin, which substitute the Moldovan ones. It’s not fair for the Moldovan products exported to Russia to be taxed, while the Russian ones imported into Moldova not to be taxed. There will be more constraints on the part of Moscow in this respect and they will intensify before the elections,” he stated.

The analyst considers that the Moldovan producers should orient themselves to China, which has 1 billion and a half consumers.

Ion Balan, deputy head of the parliamentary commission for agriculture, said the Moldovan producers should export mainly to the EU and gave as example the producers from the southern districts, which started to export plums to Romania and table grapes to Poland. “They do not export at the highest prices, but they will not sustain losses,” said the lawmaker. Balan added that the apple harvest this year is a bumper one and, if the producers sell the products at low prices, the national processing companies will anyway make profit.

He noted that the Government should provide subsidies to farmers for the losses sustained as a result of the Russian bans, but these subsidies should be offered to all the fruit growers, not only to the apple ones.

Liberal-Reformist MP Anatol Arhire said the fruit producers should be subsidized and a part of the money for the purpose can come from the EU. “I’m convinced that our European partners will not leave us alone and will find €150-200 million for overcoming the situation,” he stated.

In a meeting with agricultural producers from northern Moldova on August 7, Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said that Moldova will not take similar measures in relation to the Russian products for now. “Despite the pressure exerted on us, we decided not to take response actions yet. We will not say that the Russian vodka is harmful, as they said about the Moldovan wine, and will not ban the import of Russian products. We left the door open until September 1 and hope that reason will triumph in Moscow and we will have normal relations,” he stated.