● MONDAY, July 28
Moldovan winemakers looking for export markets in U.S.
A number of winemakers of Moldova left to the United States together with Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov to ask the U.S. authorities to support the Moldovan farmers who sustained losses as a result of the ban imposed by Russia on the import of fruit, vegetables and meat from Moldova. According to a communiqué of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, a number of companies from Moldova will be able to come into contact with U.S. distributors in their attempt to sell their wines on the American market.
EU import quotas on Moldovan products will be doubled from August 1
The EU import quotas on Moldovan products will be doubled from August 1, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos announced in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Iurie Leanca. According to the European official, the European Union decided to double the quotas on the duty-free imports negotiated within the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU. The quota on apples will be raised from 40,000 to 80,000 tonnes, on plums – from 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes, while on grapes from 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes.
Fruit producers seek urgent measures for reducing consequences of Russia’s ban
Fruit producers issued a statement to the senior authorities, asking taking measures to diminish the negative effect of the ban imposed by Russia. They said the losses that the national fruit growers will sustain in the near future can be enormous and will have a very negative impact on the future development of the agricultural sector. According to the producers, this thing is primarily determined by the lack of a consistent and efficient agricultural policy during the last 10 years. In this connection, the farmers demand immediately starting negations with the EU bodies so as to fully liberalize Moldova’s fruit exports to the EU and identifying sources for compensating the fruit producers for the losses sustained following the imposition of the ban.
ANRCETI issues new licneses to three mobile phjone carriers
The Administration Board of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) made a decision to issue eight licenses for using radio frequency bands to the three mobile phone carriers working in Moldova - SA Orange Moldova, SA Moldcell and SA Moldtelecom. The period of validity of the new licenses is 15 years, starting with November 6 this year. According to a communiqué of ANRCETI, Orange Moldova and Moldcell will get by three licenses each, while Moldtelecom will receive only two licenses. The licenses will become available after the carriers fully pay the license tax, within 30 days of the adoption of the decision to grant them. The three carriers are to pay together €62.5 million into the state budget.
Farmers from northern Moldova threaten with protests
A group of farmers from Otaci town of Ocnita district said the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU created a number of problems to them given that Russia closed its market for Moldovan agricultural products and they are now on the verge of bankruptcy. They threaten to stage mass protests. In a news conference, the farmers said they give the Government seven days to fulfill a number of demands, including to call an extraordinary session of the legislature and to declare a state of emergency all over the country. Besides denouncing the Association Agreement with the EU, the farmers also demand that the Governemnt should purchase their fresh and canned fruit and vegetables, which they can no longer export to Russia, so as to compensate them for their losses, and then should identify new export markets for them.
Moldova aims to sign Free Trade Agreement with China
The necessity of launching discussions on the signing of a Free Trade Agreement and other subjects concerning the Moldovan-Chinese economic cooperation were discussed in a meeting of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Andrian Candu and China’s Ambassador to Moldova Tong Mingtao. According to a communiqué of the Ministry of Economy, speaking about the prospects of the economic dialogue with the Chinese side, Andrian Candu confirmed Moldova’s readiness to intensity the dialogue with China. “The cooperation potential is significant and our objective is to find advantageous methods to realize it fully and to attract Chinese investments to our country,” he stated.
● TUESDAY, 29 July
Action plan for prompting Moldovan food products on EU market
Specialists of the National Food Safety Agency (NFSA) will be trained to apply the European norms and methods of promoting products on the internal and foreign markets. On July 29, the Agency signed an action plan with the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority of Romania by which the Romanian authority will provide assistance to the Moldovan colleagues and the Government of Moldova in working out the national strategy for communication on European themes. The Romanian authority’s head Vladimir Alexandru Manastireanu welcomed this action plan, saying that for Moldova, it is important to promote its products on the markets of Romania and the EU.
Moldova must promote ecological education, including by tax benefits
Moldova must promote ecological education and information and offer tax and financial benefits for using ecological technology that increases energy efficiency and reduces the country’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. This is the conclusion of a study of the financial instruments available for promoting eco-technologies that was presented in Chisinau in a roundtable meeting staged by the Ministry of the Environment in partnership with the UNDP/GEF Project aimed at promoting the environmental fiscal reform. The study “Analysis of the financial instruments market for facilitating ecological technology” was made to establish the current situation as regards the use of eco-technologies in Moldova, to formulate proposals for replacing the energy consumption practices in the household sector, transport, industry and agriculture and to broader inform the people about the benefits of using eco-technologies.
● WEDNESDAY, July 30
Working out of new strategy for developing non-banking financial market under way
The National Commission for Financial Markets started to think up a new strategy for developing the non-banking financial market. “The current strategy for 2011-2014, approved by law, is expiring and we need a new document for a period of four-five years, which would reflect the changes that occurred meanwhile in the economy and the trends on this market,” said Commission’s deputy head Nina Dosca.She also said that a large amount of work is to be done on the securities market’s segment that she coordinates to work out the normative framework for the Law on the Capital Market and to adjust it to the provisions of ten European directives that need to be implemented.
U.S. requirements on wine quality are much simpler than in EU, minister
The requirements concerning the quality of wine products in the United States are much simpler than in the European Union, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said in an interview for Radio Free Europe. After paying a working visit to the U.S., accompanied by a number of Moldovan winemakers, Vasile Bumacov said the national wine producers had the occasion of meeting many U.S distributors at tasting events. There was signed an agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and the United States Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. This Bureau also trains all the Moldovan producers as regards the requirements of the U.S. market.
Ban imposed by Russia will be lifted in a year, expert
Any political caprice or intention based on political motives is a short-term one. The ban imposed by Russia on the import of fruit and vegetables from Moldova is also a short-term one, of a year. Sooner or later it will be lifted, in the same way it was imposed, executive director of “Expert-Grup” Association Adrian Lupusor said in a news conference held to present the journal “Euromonitor – editia T2, 2014”. The expert said that Russia does not have legal basis for imposing these restrictions. In order to explain them, Russia must prove a rapid growth in re-exports from Moldova.
EBRD provides €10m for water supply
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will lend €10 million to Moldova for developing a regional water supply and sewerage system in the municipality of Balti and in six northern districts. A lending agreement to this effect was signed by the Ministry of Finance and the EBRD. The loan will be provided in two tranches of €6 million and €4 million respectively. It forms part of a financing package of €30 million, which will include a loan of €10 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a grant of €10 million from the EU’s Neighborhood Investment Facility.
● THURSDAY, July 31
Loans provided by savings and loan associations become more popular
The applications for loans from savings and loan associations are rising in number. The average size of a loan per beneficiary has increased. Thus, the average size of a loan in 2013 rose by 15.2% to 9,587 lei. The average value of the savings attracted in savings accounts per depositing member was 27,501 lei, up 33.4% or 6,889 lei on last year.
Remittances in second quarter larger than in first quarter
The volume of remittances sent from abroad to private individuals in Moldova through banks in the second quarter of this year totaled US$453.98 million, as against US$314 million in the first three months of 2014. In April, remittances came to US$150 million, in May to US$148 million, while in June to US$155 million. Some 26.5% of the remittances were transferred in US dollars, as opposed to 27.9% in the first quarter, 35.5% in Euros, compared to 37.2% in January – March, while 38% in Russian rubles, in contrast to 34.6% in the first three months of this year.
● FRIDAY, August 1
Moldovan fruit and vegetables could be sold in hypermarkets in Romania
Representatives of large Romanian retailers expressed readiness to support the fruit and vegetable producers of Moldova. Deputy head of the Romanian Association of Large Commercial Networks of Romania Delia Nica proposed that every hypermarket should have discussions with the Moldovan producers and establish advantageous partnerships between them. The statement was made in a meeting of Secretary of State Daniel Botanoiu and a group of representatives of the Associations of Fruit and Table Grape Producers and Exporters of Moldova, led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vlad Loghin, in Bucharest. According to a communiqué of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania, the meeting involved representatives of large Romanian retailers and processors and was held with the aim of establishing direct ties between the sides for selling Moldovan fruit and vegetables in Romania, following the ban imposed by Russia on the import of Moldovan products.
Moldovan producers must make effort to enter EU market, academicians
Now that Russia imposed a ban on the import of fruit from Moldova, the Moldovan producers must make maximum effort to enter other markets, including that of the EU, which imposes new quality standards, a group of academicians said in a scientific-practical symposium held at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. The Academy’s president Gheorghe Duca said that this ban stimulates the producers to improve the quality of their products. “Owing to Russia’s bans, we have improved the quality of our products. The Moldovan agricultural products are very good as they contain many microelements and substances needed to maintain and fortify health,” said the academician, adding that the products from Moldova can be competitive on all the markets, not only the European ones.
90% or railway transport is old
About 90% of the locomotives, freight cars and passengers railcars of the state-run Moldova’s Railways are worn-out and need to be changed. On the Railway Workers’ Day marked on August 1, Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Vasile Botnari said the reforms that must be implemented from January 1, 2015 will improve the quality of the services provided by the company and will attract €100 million from the EBRD and EIB for reconstructing and modernizing railroads in northern Moldova. The minister said a new feasibility study is needed to build the railway on the Ungheni-Chisinau segment so as to attract more passengers and goods.
● SATURDAY, August 2
Moldovan vegetables are of high quality, but have inappropriate aspect, scientist
The vegetables grown in the pedoclimatic conditions in Moldova are of a higher quality than those grown in other states, but their appearance must be improved, director of the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protecting of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Vasile Botnari has told. According to Botnari, Moldova’s black soil is rich in different microelements that significantly contribute to an improved quality of the vegetables. In Moldova, emphasis was put on the quality of products, to the detriment of the external aspect. In other countries, stress was laid on the appearance of the goods so as to make them more attractive. That’s why we often have very attractive, but not very tasty imported products on the home market.
