Moldovan town hosts first cabinet-local public administration joint meeting

Chisinau, 22 June /MOLDPRES/ – The most burning issues of inhabitants of Falesti districts and solutions for overcoming them have been discussed today at a joint meeting of the central public administration (APC) with representatives of local public administration (APL) in the region, the government's communication and protocol department has reported.

Prime Minister Pavel Filip has mentioned that new format of meetings, which requires consolidated intervention of governmental team in each district of Moldova, will intensify cooperation of APC and APL, thus enhancing responsiveness of authorities to the needs of citizens.

"I know there is still a tendency to stand on different parts of barricade, but I want to change this because we are jointly responsible to citizens and have liability to offer them a better quality of life. I am sure that this communication will make us more united and achieve our goals together," said Pavel Filip.

The PM said that if the efforts of Government were to focus on stabilising economic situation in Moldova and unblocking external financing, the authorities are currently focusing on promoting reforms and modernisation projects of the country. Related to it, PM highlighted the central public administration reform, launched to increase the efficiency of state institutions and initiated reforms to improve the business environment that generated economic growth, giving the state possibility to make social investments.

"More money came to the budget because people started to work better and pay taxes. It is true that the reforms do not get you in the picture and are often criticised, but it turned out that they are working in time," specified Prime Minister. Increasing revenues to the budget have allowed for increased social allocations and successful implementation of pension reform. The improvements are also being made in primary healthcare, hospital sector, and continuation of projects initiated in energy security.

During the meeting, it was also discussed programme "Drumuri bune pentru Moldova" (Good roads for Moldova) launched by Government in 2018. Within this programme, Falesti district will benefit from repairing over 35 km of national and local roads, the total value of works being over MDL 41 million. In addition to improving infrastructure, there are taken exact steps to motivate young people to remain in Moldova throughout implementation of programme Prima Casa (First Home). The more advantageous version of programme for public employees allows them to benefit from offsetting from state budget of 50 per cent of mortgage loan for purchasing dwelling.

The representatives of APL also reported on situation in territory, appreciating Government's support in certain situations, and at the same time highlining the problems that require involvement of central authorities. Among these were: low level of salaries in budgetary sector, which generates staff shortages in public institutions, reconstruction of the aqueduct in the district, development of agriculture, local taxes, insufficient funding of educational institutions, social assistance and need to purchase modern equipment for medical institutions. Also, some mayors have requested that programme "Good roads for Moldova" to be extended for upcoming years.

The members of the Cabinet of Ministers responded to numerous addressed questions, according to their competence areas, mentioning the actions to be undertaken further to improve the situation within education, healthcare and social assistance. Regarding the issue of the Falesti aqueduct, the Premier said that this issue to be in attention of Executive and that in discussion with the Ministry of Finance it has been examined possibility of allocating the necessary financial resources. Also today, the government team will go to 76 localities in Falesti district to discuss directly with citizens. The Premier said that at the end of the day, the members of the Government would meet in a totalising meeting to discuss in detail the problems addressed in district localities and possibilities for their settlement.