Moldova and the United States Friday signed an agreement of assistance to the support to the local public authorities project in the amount of US$12 million. The agreement was signed in Chisinau by Prime Minister Vlad Filat, U.S. Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry and Director of the USAID Regional Mission for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Janina Jaruzelski, Info-Prim Neo reports. “This agreement will support the planned fiscal and administrative decentralization reforms by offering assistance to the local public authorities so that they become more efficient in providing services of the highest quality for the population,” said Prime Minister Vlad Filat. The project will last for four years. The first component – support to the local public authorities and the decentralization reform, to the value of US$10 million, will provide technical assistance and training in order to strengthen the administrative functions at sub-national level, including the compilation of the budgets, provision of local public services, implementation of development programs. The second component to the value of US$2 million will help the local public authorities to plan and implement energy efficiency measures. Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry voiced hope that the project will contribute to the improvement of the quality of the services and infrastructure in Moldova.