● MONDAY, March 27
Chisinau Airport announces summer program
The Chisinau International Airport has presented the summer program with eight new flights included. A number of 19 airlines operate flights from Chisinau to 40 destinations. The summer program includes five new flights of Fly One airline, to Birmingham (the UK), Izmir (Turkey), Moscow (Russian Federation, Vnukovo Airport), Valencia (Spain), and Voronej (Russia). Air Moldova will provide two new flights, to Krasnodar (Russian Federation) and Zakynthos (Greece), while Wizz Air will operate a new flight, to Berlin, two times a week.
Outcry auctions to sell state-owned shares
Outcry auctions to sell 21 state-owned shareholdings for a total of 702 614 174 lei will be held at the Moldova Stock Exchange from March 27 until March 31. The state sells its shares in the following companies: “Barza Alba” in Balti (100% of the shares), “Floare Carpet” (59.4%), “Tutun CTC” (90.8%), Chisinau Hotel (60.17%), cleanup vehicles factory “Fabrica de masini de salubrizare din Falesti” (94.12%), Glass Container Company (31.4%), Vulcanesti dairy (13.3%) and others.
Business entities will pay differentiated tariffs for discharge of used water
The business entities, regardless of the sector where they work, must have a pre-treatment station so that the discharged water does not exceed the allowed pollution limits when entering the Chisinau Wastewater Treatment Station. If the limits are exceeded, the companies will pay a differentiated tariff. SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau” director general Veronica Herta said the over 720 pre-treatment contracts signed with business entities will be terminated and new contracts will be signed instead of these. Until now the business entities worked based on a coefficient that determined the highest admissible concentrations and this varied between 0.2 and 1.5. Some of the business entries were often favored and a lower coefficient was indicated in the contract, even if the used water population level was rather high, depending on the kind of activity.
● TUESDAY, March 28
Wizz Air opens operational base at Chisinau International Airport
The low-cost airline Wizz Air inaugurated an operational base at the Chisinau International Airport on March 28. The company also launched the direct flight to Barcelona, while the direct flight to Berlin became available two days ago. In a news conference, director general of the airport managing company Avia Invest Petru Jardan said the Wizz Air operational base is the first opened at the airport in Chisinau by a foreign airline. This is the 26th for Wizz Air, which set up operational bases in 14 countries. Wizz Air representative Tamara Vallois stated that 36 jobs were created with the opening of the operational base at the Chisinau International Airport, while the crew members are from Moldova. The existing flights and the two new flights, seven in all, will be operated by an Airbus A 320 aircraft. The new base inaugurated in Chisinau represents an investment of US$98 million.
PARE 1+1 to target rural entrepreneurs in 2017
The rural entrepreneurs will be the target of the program to attract remittances to Moldovan economy PARE 1+1 in 2017. A sum of 40 million lei was budgeted for this year, while financing will become available in May. Director of the Organization for the Development of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Sector Iulia Iabanji, in a national conference entitled “Remittances – a source of economic amplification of regions” on March 28, said the set of conditions that the entrepreneurs will have to meet to get financing are being worked out. An agreement to supplement the budget will be signed with the EU before the launch of this year’s edition of the program.
Over 68,000 entrepreneurs presented tax returns
More than 68,000 persons who carry out entrepreneurial activities have fulfilled their obligation to submit tax returns by the March 27 deadline. More than half of the tax returns were filed in an electronic form. About 70% of the taxpayers who presented tax returns on paper work as individual entrepreneurs or run peasant farms. Compared with the same period last year, the number of persons who submitted tax returns was by about 500 lower.
● WEDNESDAY, March 29
Memorandum of cooperation with Eurasian Economic Commission published
The presidential administration has published the draft memorandum of cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Republic of Moldova, which will be signed in Chisinau on April 3. The document says the goal is to contribute to the development of comprehensive cooperation between the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Republic of Moldova so as to increase literal trade and investments. The sides, within their remit, will cooperate in a number of directions, such as regional economic integration, commercial policy, analysis of economic development and macroeconomic situation in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of Moldova, customs and fiscal regulation, technical regulation, implementation of sanitary, sanitary-veterinary and phytosanitary quarantine measures.
Areas of cherry orchards extended
Cherry orchards represent 5.51% of all the fruit orchards. The areas of cherry orchards increased significantly during the last few years. In 2015 alone, cherry trees were planted on an area of 507 hectares. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, the cherry production sector is a very promising one. The average harvest in 2013 – 2015 was of 3,240 tonnes, while exports exceeded 1,200 tonnes.
● FRIDAY, March 31
Last day to sell state-owned shares at Stock Exchange
The last stage of the outcry auction to sell 21 state-owned shares to the value of 702.6 million lei, according to the initial selling price, is held at the Moldova Stock Exchange on March 31. According to unofficial sources, the 31.4% shareholding in SA Glass Container Company was sold for 28.92 million lei on the second auction day. Glass Container Company was created based on a project supported by the EBRD. The company produces bottles of different sizes and forms for bottling wine, cognac and beer. Shares in SA Glass Container Company are also owned by Western NIS Enterprise Fund (36.7%) and Moldova Agroindbank (17.4%).
● SATURDAY, April 1
Moldova signs contract for supply of electricity with Ukraine
The joint stock company “Energocom” signed a contract for the supply of electric power to Moldova with the Ukrainian company “DTEK Trading”. The contract is valid for the period between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. After examining the bids of SA “Energocom” and the Cuciurgan Power Plant and as a result of negotiations held with these companies, on March 31 the regulated operators working on the Moldovan energy market - ICS Gas Natural Fenosa Furnizare Energie SRL, ICS Red Union Fenosa SA, Furnizare Energie Electrica Nord, IS Moldelectrica, SA Red Nord and SA Red Nord Vest – signed contracts for the supply of electricity for the mentioned period with SA “Energocom”.
Results of auction held at Moldova Stock Exchange
The state-owned shareholdings in seven joint stock companies were sold at the outcry auction held at the Moldova Stock Exchange during March 27-31. The 31.415% shareholding in Glass Container Company was sold for 28.928 million lei, the 59.486% shareholding in “Floare Carpet” SA – for 44.169 million lei, the 7.360% holding in “Autoservice” SA – for 649,400 lei, while the 13.331% holding in the Vulcanesti butter and cheese factory – for 216,850 lei. There were also sold the shareholdings of less than 1% in the agricultural production selling company Livadadin Orhei, in Agromec of Zabriceni, Edinet and in Agroinservicie of Nisporeni.
