Many of our compatriots would be glad to return home and to invest money in Moldova, but clear signals in this regard should come from the state and from the local authorities, showing that they know how to support the businesses, executive director of the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters “Moldova Fruct” Iurie Fala said in a public debate entitled “How and who the European Union helps in the Republic of Moldova” , which was staged by IPN.
The expert noted that regrettably, we do not have such signals now. “We witnessed good starts, but these didn’t develop appropriately. For example, what was done through the Rural Development Foundation produced an excellent result, but we should go on. However, the local councilors are often guided by shadow interests. We created the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture. This is a very important institution, but it didn’t achieve results similar to those of its Romanian counterpart. Our power is permanently changing and the reforms are thus implemented slowly and badly,” stated Iurie Fala.
According to him, the European programs gave a new impetus to the modernization of a number of agricultural areas. “The European program to develop innovations and technologies designed a module by which there were founded over 60 sorting and packing enterprises all over Moldova. The project “Moldova’s Orchard” helps to attract investment to develop the fruit growing infrastructure, while the project “Wine Roads” – to obtain resources for developing winemaking and winegrowing. Within the European program to promote confidence-building measures, we created an association similar to our association on the left side of the Nistru and together promote the brand “Moldova – a special taste”. Such projects contribute to developing and increasing exports. However, we do not have a sufficient communication and internal cooperation culture, but this is welcome at the local level, where society, the businesses and the authorities could set priorities together, avoiding the momentary political opportunity,” stated the director.
“As members of the European Association of Fruit and Vegetable Processing Industries, we often travel to the Netherlands that gives us an example of how important the culture of doing business and managing businesses is. They achieved impressive results by implementing technologies and reforms. We should abide by such standards and should give a clear signal that we really want to improve things.”
The public debate “How and who the European Union helps in the Republic of Moldova” was held as part of the project “Overcoming Stereotypes of European Integration through Communication” that is implemented by IPN News Agency with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
