An information fair for the diaspora and the people who returned home was staged in central Chisinau on August 29. A number of ministries and agencies presented projects and spoke abut the possibilities the Moldovans enjoy at home, IPN reports.
PR manager of the Organization for SME Sector Development Marcela Stratan said the PARE 1+1 program offers those who want to invest money in the country a grant of up to 200,000 lei on condition that the invested sum is the same size. The interest in starting businesses in Moldova is increasing among migrants. So far this year, there were filed about 140 applications for starting businesses. During four years of the program’s launch, the Moldovans who returned home started more than 300 businesses.
Jana Sofroni, national coordinator of the Promotion and Protection of Rights of Migrant Women Project that is implemented by UN Women with financing from the EU, said global migration ‘feminized’ over the last few years. The migrant women need more special support and protection because they are often subject to sexual and domestic exploitation, especially those who work as housekeepers.
Dumitru Pogorea, the representative of the Moldovan Cultural Center “Luceafarul” based in Novosibirsk, who left to Russia 13 years ago and returned to Moldova on the occasion of the Diaspora Days, said the offers presented at the fair are useful for the young migrants, not yet for those who started a business abroad and do not see advantages in returning home. “I made an analysis and ascertained that it is very hard to start a business in Chisinau. All the niches are practically occupied, while the empty ones do not hold interest. I bought a plot of land in my native village for my children, who want to remain in Moldova, and helped them to start a small business. Even if the plot is located in the village, I paid a lot for it, as if it contains natural resources,” he stated.
According to the man, the state must offer more benefits to the migrants who want to invest in the country, including tax exemptions for the first years of work and exemptions when buying land so that the migrants are able to recoup the investments as quickly as possible and are thus motivated to invest further.
