European Union reconfirms support for Moldovan customs service's reforms

Chisinau, 7 June /MOLDPRES/ - The Customs Service and the European Union continue the dialogue on strategies of development and modernization of Moldova’s customs system. The investments in infrastructure and information systems contributes significantly to optimizing the work and aligning with the international norms, the director general of the Customs Service, Vitalie Vrabie, said at a working meeting with the participation of Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Pirkka Tapiola.    

“The reforms of the Customs Service are aimed preponderantly at ensuring the state’s economic security, which can be carried out only through an integral collection of import rights, promotion of professional integrity and transparency in the decision-taking and operational processes. We are firmly sure that these measures will favour the creation of a competitive environment among enterprises, and will help improve the investment climate,” the Customs head said.       

The EU ambassador appreciated the progress made by the Customs Service, especially through the increase in collections to the state budget and accelerated restoration of more vulnerable sectors which jeopardized the good work of the system. At the same time, Pirkka Tapiola reiterated the need of increasing the salaries to the customs employees, as well as of identifying mechanisms of their additional motivation, thus diminishing the risk of eventual integrity incidents.    

Another important subject on the agenda of the meeting was the reform in the staff management, which implies optimization of the central and regional structures, including by reducing the administrative duties and redistribution of responsibilities. The sides highlighted the assistance of the European Union High Level Adviser to the Customs Service of Moldova Rosario de Blasio in working out and implementing the concept of structural optimization, consultancy based on the best EU practices in the field.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)