● MONDAY, June 1

Grain harvest close to be compromised by high temperatures

The high temperatures can compromise the grain harvest. Chairman of the Grain Producers Association Nicanor Buzovoi has told that the necessary fertilizers were added to the soil, but the plants cannot absorb the nutrients owing to the shortage of water and the result will definitely be negative. Nicanor Buzovoi noted that the drought affects the barley, wheat, corn and sunflower. The corn is growing older and the wheat also has the lower leaves dry already. The state of sunflower can improve if rain falls during the next week. The rain that fell in April made the farmers anticipate a wheat harvest of 2-3 tonnes per hectare. If it rains the yield will be 4-5 tonnes per hectare. The corn will yield nothing if it does not rain, as in 2012.

Licenses of Kvint extended for three months

Kvint’s licenses for the import, manufacture, keeping and wholesale sale of alcoholic products were extended for three months. During this period, the producer of alcoholic beverages is to perform the procedures for obtaining the licenses for a full term, according to the new criteria imposed on all the specialized companies working in Moldova and taking into account the specific situation in the Transnistrian region. The Reintegration Office says the Moldovan authorities’ decision confirms the position stated in the May 8 meeting of the political representatives of Chisinau and Tiraspol to the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks. The Moldovan side expressed then its readiness to support the Transnistrian economic entities producing alcoholic drinks given that these accept the common rules dictated by the international standards and imposed by the markets.

● TUESDAY, June 2

Two Moldovan companies likely to get the go-ahead to export alcohol to Russia

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rosspotrebnadzor) allowed the Moldovan wine companies SA “Imperial Vin” and SA “Mold-Nord” to submit applications for obtaining certification and authorization for exporting alcoholic beverages to Russia. Following this decision by the Russian authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry said that it further banks on mutually advantageous cooperation and hopes to strengthen the dialogue based on principles of confidence and the successful accomplishment of the common objective of fully resuming the supply of Moldovan wine products to Russia.

● WEDNESDAY, June 3


Tax of 5,000 lei for right to use name of state

The tax paid by legal entities for using the official or historical names of the state will be 5,000 lei, as provided in a bill submitted to the Government for approval. The consent for using the name of the state will be given by an authorization issued by the executive. In the June 3 meeting, the Government is to approve the nominal composition of the commission that will issue authorizations. The commission will be led by Minister of Justice Vladimir Grosu. Those who want to get an authorization will submit an application to the commission where they will specify the name (verified by the State Registration Chamber and the National Terminology Center) and to which they will attach a copy of the certificate regarding the constitution of the legal entity and the own responsibility statement saying that the carried out activities do not run counter to the moral principles and will not affect the image of the state.

Sales of landline services go up

The revenues of landline providers in the first quarter of this year rose by 4.5% compared with the corresponding period last year, to over 264 million lei. The revenues of SA Moldtelecom” from the sale of landline services came to 250 million lei, while of other providers – to 14.7 million lei. The monthly average revenue per user rose by 5.1% on the first quarter of 2014, to 72.7 lei. The number of subscribers to landline services continued to decrease in the period. Compared with the last quarter of last year, the number of subscribers fell by 7,400 to 1.2 million. The customer base of SA “Moldtelecom” diminished by 6,200 to 1.092 million.

Noncomplying iodized salt withdrawn from sale

A company operating in Chisinau faces a fine of up to 10,000 lei for putting up for sale iodized salt made in Romania that contained a smaller amount of potassium iodide than the one declared by the producer. The company was visited by inspectors of the Consumer Protection Agency following a complaint from a consumer. According to the lab tests report, the salt didn’t meet the physicochemical indicators. The norm is 25.0 – 35.0 mg/kg of iodine, but the salt contained 6.3 mg/kg. Director of the Chisinau Public Health Center Luminita Suveica said Moldova is located in an endemic zone where a large quantity of iodine needs to be consumed for the prophylaxis of thyroid disorders. The surplus of iodine from salt cannot cause harm as the human body takes in not much of this iodine.

● THURSDAY, June 4

Registration of construction authorization at Construction Inspectorate no longer mandatory

The registration of the construction authorization at the State Construction Inspectorate will no longer be required before initiating the works. Such a provision, which is contained in the Law on Construction Works of July 9, 2010, will be transposed to the Law on Quality in Constructions of February 2, 1996. The amendment was put forward by a group of MPs as a legislative initiative. It is designed to improve the activity of the local public authorities, economic entities and private individuals. As the authors of the initiative said, in most of the cases, the State Construction Inspectorate, for subjective reasons, defers the registration of the construction authorization and this leads to increased corruption and delayed execution of the planned works.

Farmers disappointed after meeting of special commission

The farmers left disappointed the Parliament Building where they took part in the meeting of the special commission for drafting the package of legislative amendments to support the agricultural producers. They said they wait for concrete legislative initiatives, but haven’t heard good news so far. After the meeting held behind closed doors, the head of the Union of Agricultural Producers Associations of Moldova Alexandru Slusari said the discussion was difficult and they didn’t see the minister of finance’s readiness to make effort to increase the Agriculture Subsidization Fund. The farmers suggested two variants: redistributing a part of the excise payments from the Road Fund to the Agriculture Subsidization Fund, at least the amount of excises collected on diesel fuel used in farming, and increasing the Agriculture Subsidization Fund by taking out a loan from the National Bank or by issuing securities. The minister of finance accepted none of the two proposals.

● FRIDAY, June 5

World Bank extends financing for rehabilitation of local roads in Moldova 

The World Bank will increase the financing provided for repairing the local roads in Moldova to US$80 million lei, up from the US$55 million agreed earlier, WB team leader for the Transport Sector Program in Moldova Simon Ellis said in a meeting with Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Vasile Botnari. According to the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure, Simon Ellis approved of the advanced stages of preparing the project to rehabilitate the local roads and voiced confidence that the priorities within this project will be agreed as soon as possible. “Now that the consultants have been mobilized, we can move on fast and use the whole sum,” said the World Bank representative.

● SATURDAY,  June 6

State-run company “Statistica” to the reorganized

The state-run printing company “Statistica” will be reorganized into joint stock company. The company is the successor of the branch in Moldova of the Editorial Association “Soiuzblancoizdat”, which in 1992 was transferred under the administration of the State Department for Statistics of Moldova. The company prints books, brochures, newspapers, etc. It also prints standard forms of special primary documents and issues them and trades in cellulose, paper and paper articles.