Romania provides food parcels to Moldova

Chisinau, 14 April /MOLDPRES/- The first shipment of food parcels provided by the Romanian government as humanitarian aid to Moldova arrived in Chisinau today. It is about nine trucks loaded with about 12,500 parcels, out of 20,000 in all.

Attending the receipt of parcel delivery, Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Marius Lazurca said the value of the consignment was estimated at 290,000 euros (about 6.4 million lei), and it the parcels contained meat and vegetables cans, rice, flour and spaghetti.

“All products are made in Romania, Bacau County. They have food safety certificates and necessary approvals of the relevant institutions. We want this aid to reach all Moldovan districts till the Easter Holidays. This action will be a small gesture of consolation and solidarity on behalf of Romania for the less fortunate than us,” Lazurca said.

For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Gheorghe Brega said that was a welcome assistance for people with severe disabilities since childhood, as well as for the socially vulnerable persons.

“These parcels will be distributed to districts starting from tomorrow. The first consignment will be shipped to Briceni, Ocnita and Glodeni districts, and beginning with next Monday, they will be distributed to Chisinau and other regions of the country. Another consignment amounting to over 7,500 parcels will be brought next week," Brega said.

Moldova received over 200 tons of sugar as assistance from the Romanian authorities one month ago. The assistance provided by Romania also includes 16,000 tons of crude oil for possible crisis in the cold season. It will reach Chisinau in early next May.

Brega assured that all parcels would reach their destination, and the authorities would monitor the aid distribution process. “There are presently about eight complaints submitted by citizens on the distribution of sugar to disabled people. These claims were analyzed and we discovered that the concerned people preferred to have age limit pension rather than be included in this category. For these reasons, they have been excluded from the lists”, he said.

On 10 February, Prime Minister Pavel Filip asked the Romanian authorities to provide humanitarian aid to support vulnerable families, hit by the difficult economic situation from Moldova. On 18 February, the Romanian government approved a decision on offering humanitarian aid free of charge amounting to over 16 million Romanian lei (RON) (equivalent to 83.7 million Moldovan lei), in response to requests by the Moldovan authorities.

(Reporter P. Beregoi, editor A. Raileanu)