Last consignment of pesticides collected with NATO project evacuated from Moldova

Chisinau, 28 June /MOLDPRES/ - Thirty one tons of pesticides collected in the districts of Sangerei, Drochia, Edinet and Balti municipality today were evacuated from a warehouse of the Alexandreni village, Sangerei district. This is the last consignment out of those 1,269 tons of chemical substances collected and carried to Poland for destruction, within NATO’s Partnership for Peace project. The overall value of the project is of 2.2 million euros, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.        

At an event on the completion of the project, Prime Minister Pavel Filip stressed the importance of the latter for preserving a healthy environment. The PM noted that, during time, the mayoralties of those 400 settlements with warehouses of pesticides had been signaling an increasing number of diseases in these regions. “The defective management of stocks of pesticides on the Soviet period has left us a heritage hard to be managed. We have been permanently having challenges dealing with the food security and ecological safety. I am happy that, after the today’s day, Moldova becomes a safer zone in the region; it is not only a consumer, but also a provider of security,” the prime minister said.    

The PM highlighted that the successful carrying out of the project proved the efficiency of the Moldova-NATO cooperation, including on the ecologic security dimension. Pavel Filip thanked all those involved in the process of evacuating chemicals, stressing the contribution of NATO, partner countries, as well as of those over 800 National Army servicemen. “You have worked in not at all easy and even dangerous conditions and presently, the Moldovan citizens are grateful to you,” Pavel Filip said.  

According to the PM, the authorities will further undertake needed actions to ensure a healthy environment, as this is one of the four priorities included in the Moldova 2030 Strategy. Efforts will also continue to liquidate the Soviet reminiscences, which directly hit people from Moldova.   

„Today, we managed to send the last lorries with Soviet pesticides. Frankly speaking, I would like us to fully get rid of the Soviet mentality, aimed at expecting the state to do everything. We must work together, in order to make out future better,” the PM said.    

Six National Army soldiers were awarded diplomas of the government for proving professionalism in fulfilling job missions. Also, Pavel Filip offered a symbol of the completion of the project to the ambassadors of the countries which helped implement the project: Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Turkey and Estonia.    

As much as 7,245 tons of pesticides have remained in Moldova since the Soviet period. Starting from 2003, 1,269 tons were packed, evacuated and destroyed in Poland, within a NATO project on the destruction of pesticides and chemicals in Moldova. At the same time, 1,976 tons were evacuated and destroyed in France, within another projects financed by external partners.    

A quantity of 4,000 tons of pesticides still remains in Moldova, buried in a field in the Cismichioi village, southern Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia. Authorities discuss with the Czech Development Agency to implement a project worth one million euros for these pesticides’ evacuation.     

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