Activity of the Government on March 1–14, 2006

Reshuffles

The Government appointed on March 1, 2006 Ion Chicu as deputy finance minister. Ion Chicu has previously been adviser for first Deputy Premier Zinaida Greceanii.

Also on March 1, the Government appointed Maria Cara as rector of the Comrat-based State University.

The Government gave green light on March 7, 2006 to a proposal of the Foreign and European Integration Ministry to appoint Lidia Gutu as Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Romania.

Valentin Crudu was appointed on March 7 as deputy minister of education, youth and sport, while Valeriu Turcanu was named deputy minister of culture and tourism.

Decisions

Decision on the rise of nominative compensations. The Government has decided to increase the nominative compensations paid to some layers of population to compensate the spending related to use of natural gas, starting February 1, 2006, in connection with the rise of natural gas tariffs. The number of beneficiaries is estimated at over 120,000 persons, while the annual cost of the rise is about 7.5 million lei (some 577,000 dollars). The annual cost of the law #933/2000 on special social protection of some categories of population is estimated at 220 million lei (about 17 million dollars).

Decision on approval of the draft law that exempts goods and services used for construction of the Burlaceni power station from some taxes. The executive proposes the Parliament to exempt goods and services imported for capital investments in construction of the power station near the village of Burlaceni, the Cahul district, from customs duties and VAT. According to the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure, the awarding of these facilities would speed up the building of the station and would reduce the cost of the objective, a fact that would be also reflected on tariffs of the electricity that plant will supply later. The station is built by Mold Itera Energy Company, which intends to invest about 250 million euros within three years. It should be noted that the Government has earlier proposed such exemptions for the construction in Burlaceni and a similar station in Balti, while the Parliament has adopted this law after long and controversial debates. However, the chief of state did not promulgate the law meanwhile, saying that the business is doubtful and non-transparent, while the parliament accepted his objections and turned down the draft. The problem of security and energy independence has become primary and the authorities resumed the implementation of some drafts that seem to fail, after the conflict related to the Dubasari power plant and rise of the natural gas price.

Decision on the allocation of financial means for a feasibility study on construction of a high tension power line. The Government has allocated 1.5 million lei (about 115,000 dollars) from the reserve fund for finalisation of a feasibility study on construction of the 330-mW high tension line Balti-Novodnestrovsk. Earlier, this construction was mentioned as priority for insurance of energy security of the country, which should ensure the importation of electricity energy from Ukraine and exportation of electricity from Balkans.

Decision on the development programme of the capital. The Government has approved the development priorities of the Chisinau municipality for 2006: the construction of a trolley line leading to the State Agrarian University (by the end of April); finalisation of repairing of the Nasterea Domnului Cathedral; re-dimension and reconstruction of the memorial complex Eternitate; reconstruction of the biological water cleaning station and building of the northern bus station. The reconstruction of the road leading to the Chisinau International Airport was included in the programme at the proposal of the prime minister.

Decision for the approval of the Regulation on order of introduction of digital signatures on electronic documents of public authorities. The regulation establishes the conditions of use of digital signatures in electronic documents of public authorities, order of certification of public keys, obligations and rights of person who applies the digital signature, security insurance requirement, etc. The implementation of this regulation is a condition for functioning of the Electronic Government, so that positive premises for implementation of electronic exchange of service documents are created, the time needed to execute and coordinate the documents is reduces, while the control on execution increases.

Decision on the creation of the national commission to work out initial and periodical reports on implementation of international conventions by the Republic of Moldova. The composition and functioning regulation of the commission is approved and it will fulfil among others the key tasks:

the analysis and control on full respect for international conventions signed by Moldova;
the coordination of activity for mode of drafting of initial and periodical reports on the implementation of international conventions signed by Moldova;
the approval of initial and periodical reports on the implementation of international conventions signed by Moldova and their presentation to the Government;
the creation of groups of experts to draft initial and periodical reports on the implementation of international conventions signed by Moldova and coordination of their activity;
the publication of information about activity related to drafting of initial and periodical reports on implementation of international conventions signed by Moldova, as well as proper reports on mass media (press, radio, television, Internet, etc.).

Government Decision on allocation of financial means to the magazine Moldova. As much as 457,700 lei (35,000 dollars) was allocated from the reserve fund of the executive “to partly cover the maintenance spending.” The magazine Moldova was founded through the September 17, 2003 Government Decision, while the executive is its only founder with a share of 10.000 lei (770 dollars). According to the statute of the magazine, its work is based on self-administration principles, while the financial sources are created from: financial and material shares of the founder; revenues from sale of the magazine, other polygraph production and goods, as well as from services, advertising, etc.; banking credits, other credits; charity donations; other sources that the legislation in force does not prohibit. It should be noted that the parliamentary opposition has earlier asked the Government to withdraw its quality of founder of two republican newspapers and it met this demand in 2005.

Sittings. Statements. Declarations

Implementation of the “Moldovan Village” Programme

A cabinet sitting has studied the actions taken in 2005 to implement the national programme Moldovan Village in 2005. According to available estimates, 1.7 billion lei (more than 130 million dollars) was used last year to implement this programme, of which only 370 million (28 million dollars) was contribution from the state budget. The rest of contributions came from local budgets, local and foreign investments, unreimbursable financial assistance. Most of means went to development of telephone network, gasification, creation of plantations, construction and modernisation of drinking water providing systems, etc. The largest sums were spent in the administrative territorial unit of Gagauzia, districts of Orhei, Ialoveni and Hincesti. Investments for 2006 are estimated at more than two billion lei, of which 600 million lei from the state budget.

Larger budget collections

According to data provided by the Finance Ministry, revenues in the amount of over 1.1 billion lei (84.5 million dollars) was raised to the state budget in the first two months of 2006, or by 22.2 percent more than in the first two months of 2005. The budgetary expense rose by over 10 percent and foreign payments worth about 7.5 million dollars were performed in January-February.

First report on EGPRSP

The Ministry of Economy and Trade has tabled the first report on assessment of implementation of the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (EGPRSP) to the Government. The document was not made public but data published by mass media show that foreign direct investments in economy accounted for 260 million dollars in 2005, reaching the highest share in the past ten years. The priorities for the next period include the drafting of a strategy on attraction of investments and promotion of exports, strategy on sustenance of development of small- and medium-sized businesses for 2006–2008, cooperation wit international financial organisations, intensification of coordination with the World Trade Organisation, reduction of deficit of trade balance.

Priority of the employment strategy

The Ministry of Economy and Trade is due to complete the employment strategy for 2006–2020. The ministry will focus this year on the need of crediting for creation of jobs, elaboration of a system of analysis and real forecast of labour market. According to data of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, only 24,600 job seekers (41 percent of those registered) got employed last year.

Commentary on situation in the Transnistrian section of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border

The governmental press service has released a communication of prime minister regarding the situation in the Transnistrian region, saying that:

About 300,000 persons have confirmed their Moldovan citizenship in the Transnistrian region and this process develops with a speed of approximately 1,000 identity cards a month, so that it should not be said that the latest joint actions of Moldova and Ukraine were planned with the purpose of a blockade and could have a negative effect on residents of the region and its economy.
The European Union’s Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine, the Decision of the Moldovan Government regarding export-import operations for economic agents based in the Transnistrian region, which stipulates a privileged registration in Chisinau, adoption of the December 30, 2005 Joint Declaration of the Moldovan and Ukrainian prime ministers represent the first stage of the process of normalisation of situation at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border.
The accomplishment of the second stage — the joint declaration of the Moldovan and Ukrainian premiers was openly and transparently implemented during bilateral and multilateral consultations with information of all those interested, Transnistria-based economic agents.
The temporary registration regime for Transnistrian enterprises is a simplified procedure of legalisation of foreign economic activity within short terms, without any customs duties.
The mechanism of implementation of the December 30, 2005 Joint Declaration is, in principle, a comeback to the functioning of the temporary registration regime, which was successful in 2003–2004. The Transnistrian entrepreneurs have demanded this from the Moldovan side more than once.
There is no room for references to the 1997 memorandum, as all experts know that the legal mechanisms for implementation of provisions of this memorandum are absent.
The implementation of the joint declaration of prime ministers offers conditions for a legal and transparent activity of enterprises based in the Transnistrian region as an alternative of the shadow business and smuggling. The blockade and self-isolation are measures taken by the Transnistrian region to ban enterprises to get registered and to obtain customs documents from relevant departments of Moldova. The self-isolation policy affects the economic agents based on the left bank of the Dniester river and economy of the entire region and this policy is blameable.

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