MOLDOVA IT PARK SALES VOLUME MAY REACH 1.14 BILLION IN 2018

Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Chiril Gaburici said at the Monday's ICT Summit in Chisinau that the volume of sales, registered by residents of the Moldova IT Park may account for 1.4 billion lei (US$85) in 2018.

He said that year to date over 160 companies became residents of the country's first informational technologies park (Moldova IT Park) including 52 companies with foreign capital.

"In 2016-2017 the trade turnover of the Moldovan IT sector grew to 12.2 billion lei from 10.5 billion lei, also, the growth in exports of IT products and services was registered - to 3.3 billion lei. This means not just considerable growth, but also a signal that the IT industry will need higher resources - first of all human resources, as well as investments", the Minister said.

He said that the pace of IT industry growth, as well as the interest, demonstrated by the new generation to this field, give hope that Moldova has great possibilities for development in this field not only as a consumer, but also as a supplier of produce and services.

"In this relation, the Ministry is correcting the governmental policy to help deriving benefit from the investment opportunities and potential growth of IT industry", the minister said.

According to him, the "Start-up Viza" project, which allows IT specialists getting permit to work in Moldova, compensates the shortage of qualified workforce in the country, as well as will contribute to the real coming of new technologies and business models in the country.

"We are firmly convinced that IT parks, as innovation platform for developing competitive enterprises, will ensure the IT branch with a considerable economic growth, will open perspectives for young specialists with well-paid jobs in the country", he said.

Gaburici said that this year Moldova climbed 4 positions in the Information Society Report compiled by the International Telecommunication Union, ranking the 59th of 176.