Activity of the President on September 16–30, 2008

Decrees

Moldova’s President has signed a decree on appointment of Alexandru Cujba as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to UN.

Under a presidential decree, “Ordinul Republicii” (the Order of the Republic) was awarded to Leonid Babii, Director-general of the Balti-based enterprise Barza Alba.

The chief of state has signed a decree recalling Vasile Sturza as Moldova’s Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Mutsuo Mabuchi, outgoing Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Moldova, was awarded the Order of Honour as a sign of deep gratitude for his special contribution to developing and deepening friendship and cooperation relations between Moldova and Japan.

Minister of Transport and Road Management Vasile Ursu was revoked over reorganisation (liquidation) of the ministry.

Sittings. Decisions. Statements

Totals and plans for Government

Moldova’s President has chaired a working meeting at which he concluded some results of the Government activity and indicated new tasks for the next period. He appreciated the Government activity, stating both social-economic accomplishments and successful management of the crisis situation relating to the summer floods. Vladimir Voronin pointed out short and medium-term goals to be fulfilled by the central executive, in particular:

To examine the execution of the governing programme within 10 days;
To work out and adopt draft laws included in the European Union-Moldova Action Plan and intensify actions to finally sign a new agreement with the EU;
To fulfil budgetary tasks for this year and honour all obligations stipulated by national programmes and strategies (gasification, water supply, planting of orchards and vineyards, renovation and enlargement of irrigation networks, rise of the number of agricultural cooperatives, consolidation of farm land, opening of new technological machine stations;
To sustain the ecological agriculture, opening of new abattoirs and frigorific installations, carrying out autumn agricultural works;
To implement all actions related to the Youth Year; take efficient actions to implement latest initiatives on gradual rise of scholarships and teachers’ salaries;
To improve the nutrition of children in polyvalent and boarding schools;
To estimate the execution of the “Salt” Programme; to primarily implement the Law on social assistance;
To construct and put into operation all planned social facilities, some public medical-sanitary institutions; speed up the renovation of healthcare centres in rural areas.

Sitting of the National Commission for European Integration

The National Commission for European Integration (NCEI) resumed its activity on September 26 after more than 2 months. At the beginning of the sitting, the President of Moldova commented latest political developments which are directly connected to the European integration issue, and revealed that the draft “Eastern Partnership” is being actively elaborated in Brussels and it is expected to cover integrationist components such as deep free trade, labour force mobility and eventually a road map for the liberalisation of the visa regime. Mr. Voronin noted that these issues will be discussed during negotiations with the European Union on a new agreement with Moldova and this is what Moldovan authorities are most seriously interested in. The Government and Parliament were invited to establish a tight interaction in honouring all commitments assumed by Moldovan authorities. The next NCEI sitting is set for October 21.

New concerns with exploitation of mineral resources

Vladimir Voronin has chaired a sitting of the Supreme Security Council (SSC) at which findings of an analysis on exploration, exploitation and sale of mineral resources and activity of quarries were presented. Under a previous SSC decision, a special commission was created to examine the situation in the area, which reported grave violations in exploiting mineral deposits, in particular, illegal extraction; non-cultivation of exploited fields and lack of cultivation specialists; lack of control and massive abuses, including by local authorities in mineral exploitations; dispersed responsibilities and conflict of interests between structures in charge with supervising the exploitation of mineral resources; appearance of chaotic installations to illegally extract building materials for commercial purposes; illegal and fraudulent trading of building materials without paying taxes, for exaggerate prices, without origin documents or any quality guarantees of materials with fake invoices. Causes of this situation include among others low, inadequate sanctions for such offences. The chief of state urged the Government to take decisive actions in order to improve the situation in the area of exploration, exploitation and trading of mineral resources by working out an action plan aimed at ensuring the legality, ecological and economic security of extraction of deposits. The national agency of mineral resources will be created by October 30 within the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources on the basis of ministerial subdivisions and departments which have tangencies with this sector, without raising the bureaucratic apparatus. Also, the examination and modification of the Subsoil Code will be accelerated by October 30, the Criminal Code and Code of Administrative Contraventions will be elaborated and modified to introduce harsher sanctions.

Conference “Policies on science and education”

The chief of state has addressed the International Conference organised under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, stating among others as follows:

The human capital is the only available development resource of Moldova, while the underrating of this detail had produced an unprecedented economic and social fall of Moldova in the first decade of independence;
At a certain stage, the labour market has lost the qualified labour force able to be engaged in possible investment offers;
The reform promoted through the Code on Science and Innovations was right, expenses for the science have grown several fold, the self-appreciation of the scientific community, its self-requisition and responsibility have grown suddenly;
The work on the draft Education Code was finished and the document regulates all education levels, from pre-school to post-graduation. The code will stipulate that starting 2009 the average salary of teachers shall equal the average salary in the economy;
Expenses for education will go up for certain long-term priorities of major importance.

Implementation of the national gasification programme

A report on fulfilment of the gasification programme until 2010 was presented at a working meeting at the Presidency headquarters. According to the report, gas pipes have been installed in 637 localities, gas pipes have been installed to the bounds of another 168 localities and gas pipes leading to 71 localities are being built in 2008 (the gasification of 893 out of 1,531 localities of the country is planned by the end of this year). Data on the investment programme on building natural gas pipes by SA “Moldova-Gaz” were provided at the sitting, and it says that 843 kilometres of natural gas networks will be constructed. The chief of state reiterated the special importance of implementing the national gasification programme in due term and instructed persons in charge with implementing the programme to continue doing their best to reach this goal.

Reconstruction of national cultural-historic heritage

Actions and plans for the renovation of the Eugen Ionesco Theatre, Strada Trandafirilor Street, Organ Hall, National Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Republican Theatre Luceafarul, National Philharmonic, National Museum of Fine Arts, Museum House Alexandru Donici, Lazo Manor, Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts, etc. have been reviewed.

Jubilee of the Moldovan State

The chief of state has chaired a sitting of the state commission in charge with actions dedicated to the 650^th anniversary of the Moldovan State, which heard information about implementation of the action plan on the anniversary. Participants shared opinions about details of the action plan, considered concepts of a jubilee medal and order Bogdan Intemeietorul, which will be printed as state a state distinction. The chief of state emphasised the need to analyse the situation in the area of Moldovan heraldry and lack of qualified specialists. Vladimir Voronin insisted on finalisation of a timetable for 2009, which would be correlated with the Christian-Orthodox calendar and delivered to the commission for approval.

Celebration of the Hunter Day

The chief of state has attended a festivity dedicated to the 3^rd edition of the Hunter Day organised by the Association of Hunters and Fishers of Moldova that Mr. Voronin chairs as honour president. He greeted the audience and noted that hunting conditions have been improved much in Moldova in the past years, with hunting areas being enlarged and hunting species being raised, attracting foreign tourists. Speaking about recent restrictions on rabbit hunting introduced under a governmental decision for a two-year term, the chief of state noted that this decision came after the observed degeneration of rabbit population in Moldova and in the region. It was stressed the imperative to respect legal and normative orders regulating the hunting, the necessity to correct administrate the wild fauna. During the Hunter Day the chief of state has awarded special prizes to representatives of the best hunting collectives in the country and visited exhibitions of naturalised objects, hunting trophies, guns and utensils.

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