Activity of the President on September 16–30, 2007

Decrees

Tatiana Lapicus was appointed ambassador, Moldova’s resident representative to the Geneva-based U.N. Office.

Ion Ciornii was appointed extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Moldova to Lithuania. Previously, he has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration.

Sittings. Decisions. Statements

Private pension funds

Moldova’s president has told a manifestation dedicated to the day of social assistant that the Moldovan pension insurance system must be substantially reformed in order to be adjusted to international standards, and building private pension funds is a possibility. Mr. Voronin launched this idea because pensions grow by 20 percent a year while the inflation annually increases by 10 percent, and thus retirees do not enjoy normal living conditions. It is worth to note that the Law # 329-XIV on non-state pension funds was adopted on March 25, 1999 and so the legal mechanism was introduced long ago. However, initiatives on creation of these funds were not promoted because of many bureaucratic problems and related inherent risks, as well as because of low confidence of population towards these institutions.

Development of transportation infrastructure

A meeting on development prospects of Moldovan transportation infrastructure has heard reports by the Ministry of Transportation and Road Management. The Chisinau-Balti, Chisinau-Hincesti-Cimislia-Comrat, Causeni-Stefan Voda routes, a segment of the road near Cricova town will be renovated in 2008, and the Orhei-Rezina highway will be rebuilt starting next year. Vladimir Voronin stressed the need of a responsible attitude towards the planned projects, noting that the high quality of building materials and works, the use of modern technologies, the respect for ecological norms must be the main criteria that builders should meet while repairing motorways. At the same time, the president underlined the necessity of reasonably and transparently using the public funds and resources of foreign partners and the importance of finding new finances, including by attracting investments more actively, in order to implement road renovation projects.

Concern for cultural and sport facilities

A sitting convoked by chief of state has summarised actions aimed at repairing or rebuilding a number of cultural and sport facilities, signalled problems related to execution of works and considered possibilities to remedy the existing difficulties. The Moldovan president stressed the importance of restoring very well and in the due term the Museum House A. Mateevici in the village of Zaim. Speaking about the stage of renovation works at the Kligman and Herta House, Vladimir Voronin ordered the reopening of the National Museum of Arts of Moldova by August 27, 2008 after renovation. He noted that a general entrepreneur was not selected so far to project the Eugen Ionesco Theatre and therefore, the rector of the Moldovan Technical University was allowed to involve students from the Urbanism and Architecture Faculty of this educational institution in designing works. In order to speed up the reconstruction of the Eugen Ionesco Theatre and Republican Theatre Luceafarul, the chief of state instructed competent governmental functionaries to find and allocate the funds needed for designing works. Also, the sitting studied problems related to construction of the Republican Stadium, the Central Stadium, the Sport Palace (with the financial aid of UEFA) and of the Chess Palace (with the assistance of FIDE).

Collegial council of MAFI

Vladimir Voronin has attended a sitting of the collegial council of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI), which focussed on situation of agro-food sector, farm land consolidation processes and elaboration of the draft National Sustainable Agro-Industrial Development Strategy. After being told the basic goals and structure of the draft strategy concerned, Vladimir Voronin stressed that this document must focus on two key issues: ensuring the food security of the country and training Moldova for accession to the European Union (E.U.). Also, it was stressed the necessity of establishing the priority development branches of Moldovan agriculture, given the possibilities of growing crops, economic productivity and their competitiveness on domestic and foreign markets, particularly in the E.U. Voronin stated that the economic side of the strategy must be elaborated so that the national budget to be relieved of the burden of subsidising the agriculture, but only strategic branches. The president also regretted that the agro-industrial sector is still very conservative and specialists from this area, who are mostly old, have out-of-date visions regarding the development prospect of this sector. Tackling the farm land consolidation issue, Voronin said that this idea must attract farmers, so that to intensify this process, adding that he supports an inter-district cooperation of agricultural producers, including for development of processing and trade infrastructure.

Implementation of regional development law

The chief of state has chaired a sitting on implementation of the regional development law and stressed the necessity of speeding up this process. The institutional framework of development areas was not created so far and the Ministry of Local Public Administration did not intensify its activity to create these structures. Mr. Voronin reiterated the importance of speeding up the implementation of this law, which is an important document for a balanced and sustained nationwide social-economic development.

Opinions uttered on TV channel NIT

President Voronin has reiterated, at the Talks with the President programme aired by TV channel NIT, his point of view that the acting Chisinau administration should tender resignation. He said that the Chisinau administration “lacks experience and qualified staff” and noted that “the implementation of many projects launched by former administration was stopped” after the new leadership was elected.

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