BRITAIN TO PROVIDE 1.5M POUNDS FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN MOLDOVA
29.07.2010
The British Government will provide to Moldova 1.5 million pounds sterling (about €1.75 million) to underpin regional development projects here, as per the Memorandum-Agreement concluded between the Government of Moldova and the British Department for International Development (DFID) and signed on Wednesday by Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Great Britain to Moldova, Keith Shannon.
The Britain-provided means will be used for implementation of the DFID Program of technical cooperation in the regional development field. The Program has an aggregate budget of €3.4 million, and is being implemented jointly with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
Premier Filat said after the signature ceremony that in May 2010 the Moldovan Government launched – through the three territorial Agencies for Regional Development founded specially for this – a contest to select priority projects to be financed from the Regional Development Fund. From among 135 projects submitted for the contest, 89 best were selected – for infrastructure rehabilitation (45), for private sector support (13), and for environment improvement and raising the country’s tourist attractiveness (31).
The Prime Minister said support for regional development is vitally important for the republic because some 70% Moldovans are rural residents.
Ambassador Shannon expressed hope that with the DFID assistance the residents of the northern, central and southern regions of Moldova will come to have better-quality roads, a wider access to water-supply and sewage systems, and will have more possibilities to run tourist and other kinds of businesses.
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