Today, the Customs Service held a public debate on the draft Customs Service Order laying down the procedure for export customs clearance of goods, which aims to streamline the transport of goods through border customs posts. The discussions were attended by the management of the Customs Service, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Economic Council under the Prime Minister, the Moldovan Chamber of Commerce, the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova (AmCham Moldova), as well as representatives of the Association of Exporters and Importers of Agricultural and Cereal Products “AGROCEREALE”, the Association of Foreign Investors, Union of Sugar Producers of Moldova (UPZM), Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters of Moldova Fruct, Association of Employers of Light Industry, Association of Electronic Industry Companies of Moldova, European Business Association, Association of Foreign Investors (Draexlmaier Automotive) and (SE Bordnetze SRL), Union of Furniture Producers, AO Moldnuc Export, ANPLPL LAPTE.

In his welcome speech, Mr. Igor Talmazan reported on the situation at the border, as well as the measures taken so far by the Customs Service to smoothen truck traffic at the border customs posts. In the same vein, he reported on the most important provisions of the Order submitted to public debate and pointed out the necessity and importance of adopting this Order.

Representatives of the business environment welcomed the measures taken by the Customs Service which led to the unblocking of the border crossing points, at the same time, they expressed their point of view on the content of the Order.

It should be noted that the debates were constructive, being appreciated the active role of business representatives and representative associations in the discussion process, and proposals were formulated, to be analyzed in the context of finalizing the draft Order and ensuring its implementation by the Customs Service.

In order to strengthen the strategic partnership with the business environment, the Customs Service systematically organizes information meetings to inform the general public about the changes to be made to the regulatory framework of its activities.

During this event, it was highlighted that the Republic of Moldova is among the first states in the world to create the National Committee for Trade Facilitation. This speaks to the importance that the country attaches to the subject of trade facilitation, it was also stated at the event. And following an assessment by the EDGE project of compliance with the requirements of the agreement on the establishment of Trade Facilitation Committees, it was found that Moldova is a good example of the implementation and functioning of the mechanism for coordinating the trade facilitation process.

Moreover, only in Moldova this committee is so representative – 118 members and has a very high status, working under the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova. The National Committee for Trade Facilitation, whose functions are exercised by the Economic Council is the platform that allows all parties involved in ensuring the process of trade facilitation and the beneficiaries of this process to meet at a single table to find solutions in this regard.

The topic was discussed on the platform of the Economic Council at the request of the European Business Association, which has been promoting for more than 3 years, the principle of extended producer responsibility.

According to experts, in EU countries there is a tax exemption for the economic agent involved in the waste management process. In Moldova, companies do not benefit from any exemption from the state.

In order to develop and implement a similar mechanism in Moldova, provided for in the Action Plan of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between Moldova and the EU, EBA Moldova, with the assistance of the GIZ project, developed an Analysis of International Practices and a set of proposals deriving from EU practices. Experts propose a tax exemption or full refund.

The Ministry of Finance has come up with an alternative solution, namely the implementation of a mechanism that would reduce the pollution tax applicable to the economic agent who places the waste on the market (for example, importers and manufacturers of plastic packaging). And subsidizing economic agents that process waste.

In the autumn, the experts will meet to finalize the concept of the mechanism.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

All of the proposals, comments, suggestions provided by representatives of business community as well as Prime Minister Economic Council, will be reflected in a position paper which is a final result of the survey to be submitted to the Moldovan authorities and European Commission.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

From the outbreak of the crisis, IC secretariats have strengthened their efforts to facilitate the dialogue between businesses and governments. As an active participant, the EBRD has direct exposure to many national stakeholders, informing the Bank’s responses to Covid-19.

Active in 12 EBRD countries of operations these councils aim to provide a platform for public-private sector dialogue between the government, the private sector, as well as the donor community. The goal is to contribute to a positive business environment by supporting the implementation of agreed policies.

In order to ensure the continuation of the public-private dialogue during the pandemic, the EBRD Governance and Political Affairs (GPA) team recently organised a virtual conference for ICs – building on the previous events in Istanbul 2015, London 2017 and Tbilisi 2018. This year’s conference featured the ICs’ role in supporting the economic recovery of the EBRD countries of operations in the aftermath of Covid-19.

For two days, around 100 participants discussed policy initiatives and the EBRD’s response to mitigate the impact of the crisis and support clients. The opening session featured high-level government participants with Maya Tskitishvili, Vice Prime Minister of Georgia; and Anila Denaj, Minister of Economy and Finance of Albania, who were welcomed by EBRD First Vice President Jürgen Rigterink.

Mattia Romani, EBRD Managing Director, Economics, Policy and Governance Department, presented the Rapid Advisory Response framework – a new service to support the implementation of policies that will help mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic by leveraging the EBRD’s own resources and its network of policy makers and experts.

In panels which brought together business, the EBRD and IC representatives, participants discussed the support the ICs have already provided in response to the crisis, lessons learned and the way forward. Members of the EBRD’s SME Finance & Development Group and Legal Transition Team also joined to discuss the role the Bank can play to support specific initiatives.

As the discussions clearly showed, effective dialogue between the government and the private sector – facilitated by ICs – is important under normal circumstances, but has proven crucial in supporting governments during and after Covid-19. Discussing the way forward, participants noted that particularly SME support, e-commerce and digitalisation should be core to any policy response and will be essential to support the economic recovery – now and in the long term.

The EBRD supports the ICs through secretariats, which coordinate and facilitate the work of the councils. They also provide economic and legal analysis and advice to support the work of the councils and support reform efforts. In total, over 50 experts and staff are working in 12 secretariats in Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Montenegro, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The Investment Councils are funded with support from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund, the EBRD Multi-donor Account for Ukraine, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the UK Good Governance Fund.

Source: https://www.ebrd.com

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

In the beginning of the meeting, the PM said that we were experiencing unprecedented times. ‘’One hundred years ago, the mankind went through a tough epidemic; yet, at that time, the people were not so mobile, the tourism and the HoReCa industry, which employs, in chain, tens of thousands of people in Moldova, was not so developed. In general, the quota of services in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was small. The pandemic hit the producers of services and non-essential products. In Moldova, tens of thousands of jobs are in danger and in the world – hundreds of millions,’’ Ion Chicu said.

The prime minister referred to the evolution of the economic indexes till the beginning of the epidemic and after the restrictions were imposed, as well as to the prospects of the national economy on the period 2020-2021, in the context of the changes triggered by the pandemic. The government is expecting diminution of the consumption and investments by 15.4 billion lei in the second quarter of this year and by 27.8 billion lei – during the entire 2020 year. The GDP is to decrease by two per cent in EU and the global GDP will drop by three per cent. According to the German Economic Team, the GDP of Moldova will decrease by 6.3 percent in 2020 against 2019.

The participants in the meeting discussed the reasoning to back the production of  personal protection equipment (PPE) in Moldova. The government is willing to provide support to the industry, which can supply Moldova’s market with PPE, according to the international standards and after meeting the domestic needs, to be able to export PPE.

The participants in the meeting also tackled the subject of gradual lift o the restrictions and preparation for resuming the economic activities in safe conditions. The authorities work with associations on elaborating procedures of activity on the period of state emergency in public health. Proposals are made to make amendments to the Labour Code, in order to allow preserving jobs and preventing massive redundancies.

The prime minister touched upon the government’s focusing on the digitization of public services, noting that work was carried out in the health and education sectors. Regulations are under elaboration and investments will be made in technical capacities and information systems both from public sources and from  assistance of development partners.

Ion Chicu informed that the government would focus on the payment of salaries in time in all public sectors, as well as on the payment of pensions and allowances. The state’s functionality will be preserved and a decisive contribution to maintaining consumption will be made through the payment of salaries, pensions and allowances.

The PM assured the business environment that the government would not resort to  increasing taxes and would provide predictable conditions of work.

ANSA inspectors are currently carrying out a 100% control of consignments of food of this type, as they do not apply the risk management system which provides that only products presenting an increased risk should be subject to verification. Moldovan business requires reduction of the control rate, from 100% to 10%, as in the EU states. The subject was discussed at an online meeting, on 5 June 2020, on the platform of the Economic Council.

The aim of these changes is to eliminate artificial obstacles in the activity of business, to streamline border traffic and ensure the harmlessness of non-animal products imported into the country, the participants said. ANSA jointly with representatives of the relevant ministry should consider the proposals of the business community to amendments to the regulation on the procedure of crossing the state border of goods subject to control by ANSA.

The document will then be submitted for public debates, after which it will be submitted to the government for approval.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

The draft sees measures to back the entrepreneurial activity, in order to attenuate the negative effects on the economy, triggered by the epidemiological situation (COVID-19) and establishes a mechanism of subsidization.

Under the decision, the subjects of the subsidy are the non-commercial enterprises and organizations residents of Moldova, which established technical unemployment and/or standing. ‘’For the subjects of the subsidy which fully or partially ceased working, according to the decisions by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission  and/or the Instructions of Moldova’s Commission for Emergency Situation, the government provides a subsidy worth the sum paid of the income tax, of the mandatory social state insurances contributions owed by the employer, of the mandatory individual state social insurances and the mandatory health insurances premiums in form of percentage contribution owed by the employer and employee related to the allowance/salary provided to the wage earners in technical unemployment and/or standing,’’ the document reads.

Also, for the subjects of the subsidy which fully or partially ceased working, other than the aforementioned ones, the cabinet provides a subsidy worth 60  per cent of the sum paid of the income tax, of the mandatory social state insurances contributions owed by the employer, of the mandatory individual state social insurances and the mandatory health insurances premiums in form of percentage contribution owed by the employer and employee related to the allowance/salary provided to the wage earners in technical unemployment and/or standing.

These proposals were submitted by several business associations including on the platform of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister. The EC Secretariat is in a process of continuous collection of requests for business support from the state. All are synthesized and forwarded to the relevant institutions for examination.

The parliament on 17 March declared state of emergency in Moldova till 15 May. On this period, the instructions by the National Commission for Emergency Situations are obligatory and executory. The Commission ruled to take more restrictive measures which hit including the business environment and more employees.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.