Chisinau hosts Moldovan-Austrian business people forum
10:54 | 18.11.2014 Category: Economic
Chisinau, 18 November /MOLDPRES/ - Moldovan and Austrian business people met in a business forum in Chisinau, on 17 November. The event was occasioned by the visit of Austrian President Heinz Fischer, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (CCI) press service has reported.
In his speech, CCI Head Valeriu Lazar emphasised that Moldova provided many opportunities to foreign investors, which could bring besides investments, expertise and modern technologies very necessary to this stage of development of the state. Moldova is passing through a stage of structural transformations, integrating, once the Association and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements signed, into the market of the European Union. „it is important to understand that, in the new geo-economic realities, we are not just making trade in the free trade regime with EU, but we integrate into this market and we will be part of it. Over the past 5 years, we have adjusted the economic legislation, including the trade and civil ones, to the European one. Thus, any investor will work on the Moldovan market in conditions similar to the markets where he is already present, either the Austrian or Romanian one," Lazar said.
Valeriu Lazar also informed that Moldova provided business opportunities to companies from different sectors only in the area of infrastructure restoration, being structured financing packages worthy billions of euros, with the support of development partners. At the same time, Lazar underlined that Moldova also counted on direct foreign investments from the Western companies. In the context, Lazar welcomed the interest of Austrian companies in the Moldovan market, shown by the investments already made in Moldova, as well as by the presence of about 30 new companies at the forum. He urged the Austrian businessmen to address to CCI, in order to benefit from consultations and support to enter the Moldovan market.
For his part, Deputy Head of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Richard Schenz said that the forum was held in a very significant moment, namely after the signing of the Moldova-European Union Association Agreement, which rose the interest of Austrian entrepreneurship in Moldova. Schenz added that the Austrian enterprises were interested in investing in agriculture and processing industry, textiles, IT and health, in many of these sector the Austrian capital is already present.
The data of the National Bureau of Statistics show that the quota of foreign trade (without taking into account the trade activity of the economic agents from the eastern districts) of Moldova with Austria was of 100.6 million dollars in January-September 2014. The export of goods was of 13.7 million dollars in January-September 2014 and increased by 42.7 per cent against the same period of 2013. The import of Austrian goods to the Moldovan market was estimated to 86.9 million dollars in the first nine months of 2014 and diminished by 8.04 per cent compared to the same period on 2013.
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