Moldova to become more competitive in sustainable agriculture with support of Japanese government

Chisinau, 7 March /MOLDPRES/- Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and European Integration Minister Andrei Galbur and Japanese Ambassador to Chisinau Masanobu Yoshii today signed a grant agreement by exchange of notes between the Moldovan and Japanese governments on implementation of the project “Conservation agriculture – development of a sustainable soil management system in Moldova”, the Foreign and European Integration Ministry’s information and media relations service has reported.

The project aims at purchasing agricultural machinery for conservation agriculture, and has a budget of 500 million yen (about 4.8 million dollars).

The grant is provided by the Japanese side within the programme on social and economic development, an instrument of Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan.

In this context, Galbur thanked the Japanese government for the assistance given to Moldova in priority sectors: agriculture, health, education, environment, culture etc.

Galbur and Masanobu Yoshii had a courtesy meeting and exchanged opinions on this project, due to be managed by the Agriculture and Food Ministry.

The sides voiced confidence that once implementation of the project, soil degradation in Moldova will be reduced , and for long term the country will become more competitive in agriculture.

The signing of this agreement is held on the eve of the 25th anniversary of setting Moldovan-Japanese diplomatic relations, on 16 March 1992. During this period, Japan’s financial assistance provided to Moldova was estimated at over 150 million dollars. Japan is the third donor of Moldova after the EU and the United States.