MOLDOVA AND JAPAN WILL SIGN AGREEMENT ON MUTUAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE

Moldovan Customs Service Director Vitalie Vrabie met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Moldova Masanobu Yoshii on Monday. They discussed the provisions of an intergovernmental agreement on mutual administrative assistance in what concerns the exchange of customs information.

According to the Customs Service, the project of agreement has already been approved by the Moldovan Government. It implies the activation of information exchange in customs sphere. Currently, the agreement is undergoing expert assessment by Japanese specialists.

The document is aimed at ensuring economic security of the signing countries and the development of trade relations between them. The agreement is aimed at contributing to correct application of the customs legislation, including the prevention, investigation and combating of embezzlement in the customs sphere.

According to Vrabie, the need of adopting the agreement was due to the fact that volumes of mutual trade between Moldova and Japan considerably grew over the last years. In particular, the Moldovan exports to Japan grew 27% in 2017 against 2016 - to US$1.05 million, while imports of Japanese goods to Moldova - 33.3% - to US$37.5 million.

"The growth of trade turnover is conditioned by the need of better ensuring of transactions, thus this document will become one of instruments that will help preventing the possible risks of frauds", the Customs Service Director said.

Ambassador Masanobu Yoshii expressed readiness to further support the efforts, directed to development of customs cooperation between Moldova and Japan.