Moldovan premier summons meeting to consider problems in animal husbandry sector

Chisinau, 21 January /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu today summoned a meeting to consider problems in the animal husbandry sector. Attending the event were Ministers Anatol Usatii and Ion Perju, the state secretaries Tatiana Nistorica, Dorel Noroc and Iuliana Dragalin, representatives of specialty associations and native producers, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.    

In the beginning of the meeting, Ion Chicu said that decision-makers proposed to discuss the biggest challenges faced by the national animal husbandry sector, collected at a meeting with the business, held by the government in last December.  

Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Minister Ion Perju referred to the impact of the 20-per cent share of the value added tax (VAT) on the development of business in the animal husbandry, difficulties faced by Moldovan producers when exporting goods. Perju also stressed the losses of the sector because of the lack of the infrastructure of certification of the animal origin production. Presently, only honey and egg powder of the category of these goods can be exported to EU.    

Economics and Infrastructure Minister Anatol Usatii informed about the progress made in the process of accrediting the laboratories able to test animal origin products, which will provide to native producers certificates for export to the European sales market.   

The representatives of the animal husbandry sector asked for the cabinet’s support to promote the export, financial assistance to monitor the traceability chain of products’ quality and identifying measures to protect the domestic market. At the same time, they stressed the need to speed up the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement with China.    

Secretary of State at the Finance Ministry Dorel Noroc unveiled a report on the process of managing the VAT quota on the entire production chain, noting that the management process can be considerably improved , which will have a positive impact on the administration of business. A working group was set on the platform of the Finance Ministry, led by Deputy Prime Minister Serghei Puscuta. The working group, jointly with representatives of associations and business people from the animal husbandry sector, will consider fiscal issues of the sector and will identify solutions.    

In the end of the meeting, the prime minister asked to quickly advance the process of accrediting the laboratories of testing animal origin products and urged representatives of the associations and producers to get involved in the activity of this working group. At the same time, the PM asked the Finance Ministry to identify financial means to monitor the quality of the animal origin goods on all the value chain.   

„I am sure that ways of fiscal administration can be identified, able to enhance the competitiveness of the native animal husbandry sector. I ask you to actively get involved in the working out of proposals for the fiscal policy and take into account that they should be given final touches and enforced starting from 1 January 2021. Meanwhile, we will find short-term measures which will back native producers,” the prime minister added.