The new administration of the Ministry of Youth and Sport in the period between 2015 and 2018 aims to improve the sports infrastructure, to facilitate the construction of a national stadium and to motivate the young people to remain in the country and become involved in volunteering. These are some of the priorities announced by Minister Loretta Handrabura two months after her appointment, IPN reports.

Loretta Handrabura told a news conference that she discussed with the presidents of sports federations, who asked that the physical education and sports strategy should be adopted by the end of this year. These want more transparency in the distribution of funds. Now the Ministry of Youth and Sport’s budget is three times larger than the previous years, but the fulfillment level is not the appropriate one.

As regards the attraction of European funds, Loretta Handrabura admitted that the Ministry lags behind in implementing the Association Agreement with the EU – only three of the sixteen directives have been implemented. Another eight initiatives are under implementation, while five remain on paper yet. The Ministry aims to improve this situation and to ensure greater transparency so as to gain foreign partners’ confidence.

The minister noted that she wants fruitful cooperation relations with other ministries in areas that are not only within the competence of the Ministry of Youth and Sport. To achieve the goal of motivating the young people to remain in the country, employment benefits are needed and such strategies should be implemented in concert with the Ministry of Labor and other institutions.

Loretta Handrabura also said that the country needs a national stadium that can be built in several years. Georgia, which set off in the same conditions as Moldova after the dismemberment of the USSR, hosted such a competition as the UEFA Super Cup. Moldova does not have such an arena. Such national sporting events as ‘oina’ and ‘tranta’ (wrestling) should be promoted and the equipment of sports schools should be improved.

Among other priorities are to obtain the revision of the Youth Law and the approval of a number of initiatives related to the youth sector, to promote volunteering, to actively engage the young people in the social life, to create new opportunities for the youth and to digitize all the data possessed by the Ministry.

Loretta Handrabura said she is a team player and counts on the support of her colleagues from the Ministry. She underlined she will allow no one to sabotage her work, as it happened in relation to other ministers.