The regime of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTA) is a ‘fitness program’ for the Eastern Partnership countries that signed the given commitments because these oblige them to do reforms and to meet the European standards, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said in the Eastern Partnership Business Forum that was held in Riga on May 21, IPN’s correspondent in Riga reports.
Johannes Hahn noted that Moldova and Georgia already showed the first promising results after signing the DCFTA, increasing their exports to the EU. “The starting points were surely modest, but this shows that there is potential,” he stated.
The Commissioner underscored the importance of the SMEs in the context of the new free trade regime, saying the DCFTA offers extraordinary opportunities to these. Referring to Moldova, Hahn gave as example a wine company that managed to augment its exports to the EU and the U.S. with the assistance of the European institutions. “By the way, the Moldovans have excellent wines,” he said.
Markus Beyrer, director general of Business Europe, which is one of the organizers of the forum, said the EaP reached a moment when it must take stock of the developments. He stated, on a critical note, that some of the EaP countries have yet a lot to do to implement their reform agendas, especially in strengthening the rule of law and ensuring investment security.
Markus Beyrer called on the partner states to invest in the dialogue between the business community and the governments, underlining the European institutions’ readiness to provide support in this respect. “The countries where this dialogue works best are also on average the most economically successful,” he stated.
Vitālijs Gavrilovs, president of the Employers Confederation of Latvia, said the dialogue should be strengthened not only between the EaP countries and the EU, but also between the partner countries, while Latvia, which now holds the presidency of the EU, is ready to facilitate these relations, including in virtue of its geographic proximity to the EaP countries.
Vitālijs Gavrilovs stated that the organization he heads on May 20 signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with the National Employers Confederation of Moldova, which provides for the creation of a bilateral business council.
The Business Forum in Riga forms part of a series of additional events of the EaP Summit of May 21-22. The forum centers on such subjects as the economic and political prospects of the EaP countries, the role of the business associations, the role of the banks in ensuring access to financing, digital economy, energy resources and others.