As many as 42 young people from both banks of the Nistru River exchanged experience and established cooperation relations within a conference mounted by the Chamber of Trade and Industry of Moldova, in partnership with AXA Management Consulting, in Tiraspol on May 22-23.

The event forms part of a project financed by the European Union and UNDP within the Support to Confidence Building Measures Program that aims to create employment opportunities for young people from the Security Zone and the Transnistrian region, IPN reports.

According to a communiqué of AXA Management Consulting, the participants were selected at a contest of business plans intended for people aged between 18 and 35. The selected entrepreneurs benefit from grants of up to US$15,000, individual consultancy for a period of ten months and from assistance in purchasing the equipment and raw material needed to start or develop businesses. The young people will also pay fact-finding visits to both banks of the Nistru and will become members of a network of young entrepreneurs.

Alina Morozan from Sevirova village of Floresti district aims to launch a line for processing corn and sunflower seeds. “This project is like a life jacket for me and my family. I bring up alone a child aged ten months and, as I didn’t have a job, I planned to go abroad to work. Now, with the assistance of the EU and UNDP, I can raise my child and develop my own business at home,” she said.

Through this program, the EU and UNDP financially and technically support joint activities of people from both banks of the Nistru in five key areas: business development, civil society, renovation of social infrastructure, healthcare, and environment protection.