First Moldovan packing house starts sorting, packing table grapes

Chisinau, 3 December /MOLDPRES/- The packing house in Costesti village, Ialoveni district, started to sort and pack table grapes today, a press release of the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau stated.

Attending the event were Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Marius Lazurca, U.S. Ambassador to Moldova James D. Pettit, acting Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Ion Sula, representatives of the Moldovan government and other officials.

The Romanian ambassador said the packing house helped enhance competitiveness of Moldovan farmers, ensuring their quick and sustainable access to the EU market. “Romania is further willing to help Moldovan authorities enforce the reforms needed to implement the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU,” Lazurca said.

For his part, the U.S. ambassador said “the completion of the construction works of Costesti packing house, along with other activities implemented by the ACED agricultural support project, demonstrate USA’s commitment to help Moldova become a fully democratic, independent and prosperous EU state”.

During the event, officials visited the packing hall, recently endowed with functioning refrigeration equipment with a capacity of 1500 tons and two lines for sorting and packaging grapes, with a capacity of six tons per hour.

The packing house in Costesti village was built within the “Group of Producers and Packing House for Modern Export Marketing Services” regional development project, with the support of the U.S. and Romanian governments. The 27-million-lei investments were made by the National Regional Development Fund, World Bank’s Moldova Agriculture Competitiveness Project  and local associated producers of the FructBioImpex cooperative.

(Reporter P. Beregoi, Editor A. Raileanu)