EU and Moldova officials first present start of negotiations on DCFTA to business community

The Delegation of the European Union to Moldova held yesterday a conference on present and future EU-Moldova trade and economic relations. More than 120 participants representing business community from all regions including Transnistria, as well as public authorities, civil society and mass media attended the event. The conference organised in partnership with the European Business Association was officially opened by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Vlad Filat and the Head of EU Delegation Ambassador Dirk Schuebel.

The first part of the event was devoted to the current status of negotiations between the EU and Moldova on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). Welcoming the first round of negotiations held on 16-23 March, 2012 on DCFTA, Ambassador Schuebel said: “We believe that this is an historical moment in EU-Moldova trade relations. We are entering a new phase that will bring our relations to a new level of depth and ambition”.

The Head of Political and Economic Section of the EU Delegation Wolfgang Behrendt presented the main fields and current status of negotiations on DCFTA after the first round held in March. Three further rounds are foreseen also in June, September and November 2012 and other 2-3 rounds in 2013. The EU and Moldova plan to finalise the negotiations and sign the agreement on DCFTA by end of 2013.

“The EU market will not open automatically when DCFTA negotiations are concluded and the Association Agreement enters into force”, said Mr. Behrendt. Moldova have to implement reforms, e.g. in the fields of technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights protection and competition rules. The Moldovan chief negotiator on DCFTA, Deputy Minister of Economy Octavian Calmic presented the opportunities for business community but also the challenges of the DCFTA.

The Moldovan business now benefits from Autonomous Trade Preferences (ATP) that the EU has extended to Moldova. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov spoke about the ATP and EU assistance to the agricultural sector, and the Head of AGEPI International Cooperation and European Integration Office Liliana Vieru outlined the EU assistance in the field of Intellectual property rights.

In the third part of the conference top manages from Moldovan and foreign companies presented some case studies of exports to the EU and doing business in Moldova.

NOTE

In the framework of the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU is negotiating a future Association Agreement with Moldova since 2011. The DCFTA, officially launched by the European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht in Chisinau in January 2012, will be part of this Agreement, which aims to closely associate Moldova to the EU both in economic and political terms, in line with the Eastern Partnership objectives. The future trade relations will therefore expand significantly beyond the scope of current cooperation.

Substantial reforms are required by the DCFTA agreement notably in the fields of technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights protection and competition rules. The EU assists Moldova in this process, including by means of technical assistance in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Partnership Instrument and the Comprehensive Institution Building programme, since 2009, as well as with the EU Member States' support.

EU Co-operation News #32

Strategy paper for better observance of the competition law, analysis of illegal logging in Moldova and digital maps of Moldovan forests were developed with EU assistance. These are among the news from the new issue of our newsletter.

A study on the scale of illegal logging in Moldova revealed that possibly 

around 500,000 m3 of harvested wood went unrecorded in recent 

official documents by governmental authorities.

The full newsletter on the EU Delegation's webpage: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/moldova/documents/press_corner/32_eucooperationnews_en.pdf