On the occasion of the official visit of President Petru Lucinschi to the United Nations in Geneva today, the Government of the Republic of Moldova today (15 January) signed an agreement with UNCTAD on joint activities aimed at supporting the country´s economic development and at accelerating its integration into the world trading system. The agreement, which entered into force today, was signed by Mr. Ion Sturza, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Reforms of the Republic of Moldova, and Mr. Carlos Fortin, Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD.
At the signing ceremony in UNCTAD, Mr. Fortin stated that, "the agreement which covers a wide area of activities, concentrates in particular on three main directions of cooperation: trade policy issues, modernisation of customs and promotion of foreign investments. However the agreement is only a first step and effective action will follow. A widening of the scope of cooperation in future should also be envisaged". Mr. Sturza expressed his hope that, "technical assistance from UNCTAD will be of a practical nature and will help Moldova to surmount present economic difficulties, as well as to fully integrate into the international trading system and the world economy".
The agreement focuses on technical assistance and exchange of information in the areas of trade and investment. Such assistance aims at helping the Republic of Moldova in capacity building for its effective integration of into the international trading system. It aims at the reform and modernisation of customs procedures and management through the UNCTAD project called ASYCUDA, already implemented in more than 70 developing countries and economies in transition. Support will be provided also to the country´s National Agency for Promotion of Foreign Investment for the formulation of technical assistance projects. Other concrete technical assistance programmes will be jointly set up as far as extra-budgetary resources permit. Financial support will be sought from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other potential donors.
Both parties agreed to exchange information, statistics and economic and technical documentation. In particular, the Government of the Republic of Moldova will enjoy access to and use of UNCTAD´s information and data on foreign trade and trade measures.
