​SPEAKER PROPOSES TO PROVIDE INCENTIVES TO INVESTORS IN IT-TECHNOLOGIES SECTOR

Speaker of the Parliament Adrian Candu proposed to the Parliament an initiative to provide incentives to investors in the sector of informational technologies. It was elaborated within the context of adoption of the Law on informational technology parks.

According to the Parliament press release, the draft provides a number of additions to the Law on regime of foreigners, with specification of conditions of stay in the territory of the country for persons in the administrative posts, investors and highly qualified specialists in the field of IT. Foreign citizens, who occupy executive positions in IT sector, will be able to work in Moldova without the necessity to get a stay permit for a period of 6 months to one year, depending on the occupied position.

“Simplification of the legal basis for stay of this category of foreigners in Moldova will allow to transnational companies, including start-ups, to identify, master and develop human resources. Such examples may serve Ireland and Lithuania, where a fast and efficient permissive legal bases was created, which allows to issue visas to investors in IT sector, highly qualified branch specialists and members of their families both from EU countries and outside them”, Candu wrote in the explanatory note to the legislative initiative.

According to him, the adoption of such a law will allow removing barriers for investors and attracting foreign investments by means of creating favorable conditions for IT industry development, competitive at the regional level, and to provide new economic possibilities for Moldova.

The press service of the Parliament says that the Speaker discussed his legislative initiative with founders of a successful American company, specialized in the field of software from the Silicon Valley – Andrew Lanfun and Eric Gross, as well as the company’s Regional Director for business extension in Moldova, Romania and Ukraine George Teodorescu. Candu welcomed the intention to invest in Moldovan IT-sector, stressing that by means of benefits provided in the new draft law, the authorities encourage investments in this field.

According to the Moldova’s state registration chamber, the number of IT companies with partial or entire foreign capital accounts for 1% of the total number of companies with domestic capital, in comparison to the average rate of 45% in developed countries.