Moldovan parliament speaker meets World Bank country manager for Moldova

Chisinau, 11 July /MOLDPRES/ - Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu today met World Bank (WB) Country Manager for Moldova Abdoulaye Seck, the parliament's communication and press relations department has said.

The participants in the meeting discussed the World Bank s activity in Moldova, as well as the projects and development programmes implemented by the WB and the International Association for Development of the World Bank Group in Moldova.

World Bank Country Manager for Moldova Abdoulaye Seck described the discussion with Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu as very efficient. He added that they examined the situation in the farming sector and the WB s assistance in this respect. The assistance project for Moldova s agriculture field envisages the increase in Moldova exports quota on the European Union market, in particular, for high-value goods. At the same time, the project aims at supporting the National Standardization Agency for the quality of foodstuffs. This assistance, worth 20 million dollars is made up of two components: a 16-milion-dollar loan given in concessional conditions and a non-redeemable grant worth 4 million dollars.

In this context, Marian Lupu highly praised these projects, noting that they meet the country s priorities both in economic field, by enhancing the competitiveness of the national economy, and in the social sector, by increasing the capacities of the public administration. Lupu said that a subject of particular interest on the agenda of the discussions was the education field. We tackled a project that is currently elaborated and that is meant to enhance the level of higher education in Moldova, Lupu said, praising the WB s support in this respect.

Speaking about another project of the World Bank, Lupu mentioned a programme envisaging significant support for the development of the national agriculture. The parliament speaker said that in the context of the amendments to the state budget operated during the drought period, he advocates a new budgetary amendment meant to supplement the proceeds allotted to the Fund for Agricultural Subventions, in order to assist the Moldovan farmers in this difficult period.

The World Bank has been operating in Moldova since 1993. During the years of its activity, three quarters of its loans were given to two priority fields: general budgetary support for economic reforms policies (46 per cent) and industrial infrastructure (20 per cent). The rest of the loans were offered for rural development field (14 per cent), development of human resources (11 per cent) and private financial sector (8 per cent).