Moldovan economics ministry says EU principal provider of foreign direct investments for Moldova

Chisinau, 24 May /MOLDPRES/ - The European Union is the principal provider of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Moldova, with 53.4 per cent of FDI coming from EU. The number of EU member states which have invested reached 28, with the first ones among them being the Netherlands, Cyprus, France, Spain, Deputy Prime Minister, Economics Minister Octavian Calmic said at a meeting with the delegation of the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly on 23 May.    

According to the Economics Ministry’s communication and public relations service, Deputy Prime Minister Calmic enumerated among the important achievements also the increase in exports and imports to the EU countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The number of companies exporting to the European Union has reached 1,360, which accounts for 60 per cent of all exporting companies, with more than 2,000 tariff lines.   

Octavian Calmic and EURONEST PA representatives discussed measures undertaken to speed up a deeper political and economic association between EU and partner countries from the East. “The association with the European Union is a priority for Moldova, and to this end, the basic goals are achieving a better access to market, elimination of import and export duties, as well as removing other obstacles in the trade sector,” the economics minister also said.   

Moldova has adopted more than 14,000 European/international standards and cancelled over 10,000 Moldovan conflict standards, the deadline of which has also expired. Moldova also adopted a new law in the public procurement sector, close to European public procurement system, improved the entrepreneurial and industrial policy. The minister also said that the Moldovan decision-makers had adopted the law on electric energy and natural gas, the import price of gas and electricity was cut by about 28 per cent, which subsequently contributed to a diminution of tariffs for household consumers. Also, the authorities set up high-level coordination groups for the energy market and inter-connections to the energy systems.  

Development partners appreciated the achievements got through the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. They showed interest in the export of Moldovan goods to European sales markets, as well as in new commercial preferential opportunities offered by the Free Trade Area for investments in Moldova.    

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)