​MOLDOVA'S COOPERATION WITH EDB IS QUITE PROMISING - PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR

Presidential Advisor, economist Elena Gorelova said that Moldova needs cooperation with the Eurasian Development Bank due to insufficient own funds for implementing large investment projects.

Within the videolink "Moldova and Eurasian Development Bank: Cooperation Perspectives", she said that the country's budget funds are limited and used mostly for financing the current expenditures.

"Thus, we request the funds for investment projects from our traditional partners - the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank", the economist reminded.

She stressed that these funds are usually insufficient for resolving the problems of infrastructure, the road maintenance.

"We sought for other possibilities of attracting financial means. In this connection, we studied the experience of the EDB, the used instruments, the priorities", the councilor said.

She said that Moldova is interested in the possibility of conducting payments in currencies of bank member countries, for example for getting money from Russia in rubles, in conditions when the US dollar is losing power at international markets, as well as given the negative trade balance with Russia, thus getting the possibility of paying the purchases in rubles.

Speaking about the possible priority fields of cooperation with the Eurasian Bank, the councilor pointed at the task to reconstruct and put into operation two airports in Moldova - in Marculesti (with preferential treatment for cargo transporters who will be working there) and in Balti.

"Besides, Moldova has a state passenger port in the south - Giurgiulesti, which is regarded as one of transportation platforms, transshipment of cargoes from European countries to the Novorossiysk port and further, their transit through the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan", Gorelova said.

Also, the councilor said that a promising field for cooperation is the energy sector, in particular the solar energy, given that there are many sunny days in Moldova during the year.

"If we talk about the agricultural sector, here our interest is connected with the implementation of development projects in the harvest cycle of agriculture production, the main part of which is, by the way, exported to Russia and Belarus. We can supply quality apples during the entire year, but we do not have enough cold storages, thus we need support here", Gorelova said.

Also, an advantage for such cooperation is lack of political component, unlike interaction with European banks and Moldova will get the possibility of conducting social and economic policy as it sees.