● TUESDAY, November 4
Works to reconstruct and extend airport underway
The works to reconstruct and extend the terminal by over 4,000 square meters have started at the Chisinau International Airport. They are to be completed at the beginning of next June, said Ilan Shor, chairman of the administration board of SRL “Avia Invest”, which manages the Chisinau airport. The works will cost about €10 million. There will be extended the arrivals area, departure lounge, common hall and baggage claim area. The airport will be able to serve 750 passengers an hour, as against 420 passengers at present.
Trans-Oil Group gets US$25m loan from EBRD
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a US$25 million loan to Trans-Oil Group of Companies (Trans-Oil Group), a leading agricultural commodities trader and sunflower oil producer in Moldova. The press release says the EBRD’s loan will enable Trans-Oil Group to expand its grain terminal in the Moldovan port of Giurgiulești on the river Danube and to acquire and modernize a grain storage facility in the neighboring port of Reni, in Ukraine. Trans-Oil Group uses Giurgiulesti, Moldova’s only port, as its main grain terminal. As the capacity of the Giurgiulești terminal is fully utilised at peak times, the company started renting and operating a grain storage facility in Reni, located only 3 km away in Ukraine.
● WEDNESDAY, November 5
Suspended transport minister provides details about derailed freight train
A special commission is examining the scene to establish why eight railcars of a freight train derailed near Giurgiulesti. This railroad section was closed. Suspended Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Vasile Botnari has told that only freight trains ran on this section so that the rail passenger traffic will not be affected. Works are now being performed to put the cars back on track. Experts of Moldova’s Railroad are to establish the causes of the incident. According to Vasile Botnari, they earlier put forward a set of measures for strengthening road safety. One of them refers to the creation of a railroad agency with certification, authorization, surveillance and control duties in the railroad sector.
Moldovan wines promoted on Polish market
More than 20 wine producers from Moldova presented their products at an exhibition in Warsaw, Poland. The event was staged by the National Office of Vine and Wine with the aim of promoting the Moldovan wines abroad. As many as 120 types of wine were presented at the cultural center “Zacheta” Art Gallery on October 28. Deputy head of the National Office of Vine and Wine Vitalie Panuta told a news conference that the exhibition was aimed at diversifying the export markets for wine under the “Wine of Moldova” brand and at extending the existing markets, especially the EU market. “Our goal was to show another image of the Moldovan wines to the Polish people – wines of a high quality that are not yet well-known on the European markets,” he stated.
● THURSDAY, November 6
Moldova ranks 89th by prosperity index
Moldova takes the 89th position in the 2014 Legatum Prosperity Index that was recently released by the Legatum Institute of the United Arab Emirates. Moldova is placed between Namibia (88th) and Guatemala (90th), while the rankings are topped by Norway, Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, and Canada. Moldova’s neighbors Romania and Ukraine rank 60th and 63rd restively. Russia takes the 68th spot. The Legatum Prosperity Index is based on 89 different variables, grouped into 8 sub-indexes, analyzed across 142 nations around the world. The sub-indexes are: economy, where Moldova is ranked 125th, entrepreneurship and opportunity (73rd), governance (102nd), education (67th), health (80th), safety and security (70th), personal freedom (107th), and social capital (102nd).
Inflation rate remains within central bank’s target
The inflation rate in the third quarter of this year was of 5.1%, a slight decrease compared with the previous quarter. It is within the variation interval of 1.5 percentage points around the target inflation of 5% set by the National Bank of Moldova (NBM). The data are contained in the report on inflation made public by the central bank on November 6. “By implementing the target inflation regime, we first of all aim to achieve a lower and stable inflation rate, of 5%. We do this by influencing the rates on the market through the monetary policy,” said the governor of the NBM Dorin Dragutanu. “The high probability of reaching an average inflation rate of 4.9% in 2014, compared with the inflation of 4.7% forecast 12 months ago, confirms the solidity of the National Bank’s model of forecasting the inflation and the correctness of the monetary policy measures taken during the last 24 months.”
Agriculture minister presents report at end of tenure
The subsidies provided to agricultural producers in the period of 2011-2013 came to 2.2 billion lei, which represents money from the state budget and foreign assistance. The foreign assistance projects and programs in agriculture, which were negotiated and signed, added to about 8.5 billion lei. Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov made public these figures when presenting a report at the end of his tenure. Vasile Bumacov said that the agroindustrial sector over the last four years remained a strategic sector of the national economy. Over 27% of the population works in this sector, while exports of agricultural products last year came to 41.2% of the GDP. The agroindustrial sector is the only sector of the national economy where the balance of trade is positive, which is the exports are larger than imports. The balance is over US$204.3 million.
● FRIDAY, November 7
Minister Bumacov speaks about unachieved objectives
The non-adoption of the bill to penalize land owners that let their land lie fallow is one of the unattained aims mentioned by Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov when presenting a report at the end of his tenure. “There are many lazy people in the country, but the ‘weeds law’ gathers dust in Parliament. We yet managed to reduce the uncultivated areas from 260,000 to 145,000 hectares and will continue to work in this respect,” the official stated in a news conference. Vasile Bumacov also said that during his tenure he wanted to build an agrifood center in Chisinau, which would have replaced the markets, but he didn’t manage to. “We drafted the project, had negotiations with foreign partners, held the contest of proposals for investors, but could not deal with the lobby of these semi-wild markets, including because some of the politicians follow the saying ‘a bird in the hands is worth two in the bushes’,” said the minister.
SMEs encouraged to develop own brands
The new conception of the Trademark of the Year contest, presented on November 7, encourages small and medium-sized enterprises to develop own brands. Each participant will enjoy direct benefits by simply enrolling in the contest, the chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industry Valeriu Lazar said in a news conference. The Trademark of the Year contest forms part of the Made in Moldova events that include the Made in Moldova exhibition, the Trademark of the Year contest and the Quality Award conferred by the Chamber in partnership with the compliance assessment employers association.
Association Agreement will help save over €11m in agriculture annually, “Expert-Grup”
The removal of tariff barriers for 91% of the Moldovan products with the implementation of the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU will help save over €11.2 million a year for farmers, expert Tatiana Savva says in the info-graphic “How can the Association Agreement help deal with challenges in Moldova’s agriculture” produced by the think tank “Expert-Grup”. The expert said that until now the Moldovan producers didn’t export products to the EU market owing to the customs duties, the European regulations that are not compatible with the national ones and the outdated production processes. The implementation of the Association Agreement will contribute to adjusting the legislation in the field, modernizing the agricultural sector by increasing access to finances, educating and promoting the associations of agricultural producers and to facilitating foreign investment in agriculture and rural areas. The support provided for developing villages will make the rural areas more attractive for living there.
EU supports public finance reforms in Moldova
The European Union will allocate €37.1 million for the reforms implemented in the area of public finance. The financing agreement was approved in the November 7 meeting of the Cabinet. Minister of Finance Anatol Arapu said that €33 million of this sum is a grant for supporting the budget, while €4.1 million represents technical assistance for implementing the support program. The program will support the Government, Parliament and the Audit Office in the process of strengthening good governance and promoting efficient fiscal policy and will help improve the public finance management systems.
Procedure for obtaining phytosanitary certificate simplified
The Government on November 7 approved the regulations concerning the creation and functioning of the one-stop shop for issuing the phytosanitary certificate for export/re-export. Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said the new regulations simplify the procedure for issuing the phytosanitary certificate for export. Four of the seven mandatory documents required earlier of the economic entities were removed. When the document starts to be applied, the economic entities will have to pay only two visits to the local offices of the National Food Safety Agency, as against five now.
● SATURDAY, November 8
Andrian Candu: Population will soon feel economic benefits of AA with EU
The citizens of Moldova will feel the economic benefits of the Association Agreement with the EU in 3-4 months, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Andrian Candu said. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the active implementation of the provisions of the accord will start immediately after the elections and the EU will provide €440 million for the purpose. “We have a plan for implementing the Association Agreement with the EU. The people will be able to receive cheap loans for businesses. New social infrastructure projects will be launched,” he stated.
16m lei more for compensating apple growers for their losses
The Government redirected 16 million lei for compensating apple growers for the losses sustained as a result of the ban imposed by Russia on the import of apples into this country this summer. In the November 7 meeting of the Cabinet, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said the money comes from the funds earmarked for compensating plum growers. A part of them remained unused. The plum growers were paid by 1.20 lei per kilogram of plums. A sum of 16 million lei remained after all the applicants were compensated.
Government approves ratification of agreement on SME competiveness with EU
The Government endorsed the bill to ratify the agreement on Moldova’s participation in the EU program for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (COSME) that was signed by European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Ferdinando Nelli Feroci and the head of Moldova’s mission to the EU, Ambassador Eugen Caras in Brussels on September 29, 2014. An interministerial council that will be created by the Ministry of Economy will monitor the implementation of the accord. Running from 2014 to 2020 with a planned budget of €2.3bn, COSME will support SMEs in better access to finance; access to markets; supporting entrepreneurs; and more favorable conditions for business creation and growth. It is capable of releasing up to €25 billion.
Moldova to get €8m for DCFTA implementation by this yearend
Moldova by the end of this year will receive €8 million of the €30 million grant provided by the EU within the financing agreement to support the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with Moldova during 2014 – 2017. The grant agreement was approved by the Government in its November 7 meeting. The document was signed by EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and Moldova’s Prime Minister Iurie Leanca in Chisinau.
