CBI IN MOLDOVA

June 23, 2010

CBI in Moldova
In 2007, the Moldovan Ministry of Economy invited CBI to explore possibilities to assist with export development and promotion towards the EU.

This led to the opening up of CBI‘s Export Coaching Programmes (for tourism, wine, fresh fruits and vegetables; office and school supplies; medical devices; natural ingredients), which means that Moldovan companies from these  sectors can apply for support through these programmes. In addition, trainings (fresh fruits and vegetables) have been provided and are programmed to continue.

Wine sector institutional development
Accompanying the export coaching programme for Moldovan wineries, CBI helped the entire sector with the development of the Wine Sector marketing Plan for the EU. This plan was jointly elaborated by all stakeholders under the guidance of CBI, and was officially presented at the Moldovan Wine Expo in February 2010.

Full scale support programme for exports towards the EU
Building upon the success of the wine sector support, CBI now launches a full-fledged instititutional development programme, aimed at strengthening Moldova’s export sector towards the European Union.

In this programme, which will be coordinated by MIEPO, sector organisations, associations as well as public sector institutes will benefit from know-how transfer on the European Markets, while simultaneously developing efficient, practical and competitive services for Moldova’s export community. Initially, the programme’s focus will be on fresh fruits and vegetables, IT and the wine sectors, with possibilities to extend the programme with the garments and construction materials sector.
With MIEPO, investment –lead export services will be developed for all relevant export sectors, connecting Moldova to the leading EU trade partner organisations.

Coordination among funding agencies
CBI, which has profound experience in rallying other major donor organisations behind a sector based export development approach, already found excellent cooperation with the EC and USAID funded private sector development programmes in Moldova, and intends to build on these positive results.

CBI signs today the Letter of Commitment regarding the programme with the Moldovan Investment and Export Promotion Organisation (MIEPO), representing all mentioned sector associations as well as the Moldovan Government institutions, in the presence of Moldova’s deputy Ministers of Agriculture, Economy and ICT.
The programme is expected to run for two years and will have an operational budget of around 2 mln Euro.