Oral Consecutive Translation – Discourse 3

Report of the Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, presented in Parliament

Key words and expressions:

English Romanian
ready to expose ourselves on the subject gata să ne expunem pe
subiectul
In the context În contextul
in addition to pe lângă
In this context În acest context
Taking into account the Reieșind
signs of refreshing semne de înviorare
amounted to care a însumat
In the part related to the În partea ce ține de
compared to comparativ cu
to the CIS market pe piața CSI
Consecutively Consecutiv,
Business environment and Mediul de afaceri și politica
entrepreneurial policy antreprenorială
during 2017 pe parcursul anului 2017
legal framework cadrul legal
The process of financial and statistical A fost simplificat procesul de raportare
reporting has been simplified financiară și statistică
replacing substituind
State Tax Service Serviciul Fiscal de Stat
the electronic form is integrated Integrat formularul electronic
Transport and road infrastructure Domeniul transporturilor și
infrastructurii drumurilor
Another complex Un alt domeniu complex
the tender was launched a fost lansată licitația
carrying out the feasibility study of realizarea studiului de fezabilitate
routine de rutină
At the same time Totodată
The ministry's priorities set for 2018 Prioritățile ministerului trasate pentru
anul 2018

1.Dear President of Parliament,

Honourable Members,
Honored assistance,
 
Today we came together with the team of the Ministry of Economy and
Infrastructure – Mrs. Secretary General of State and the State Secretaries on key areas
of activity, in front of you. We are ready to expose ourselves on the subject of
the simple motion on the internal policy in the field of economy made by the
Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure in 2017. In the context of the central
public administration reform, the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, in
addition to the traditional complex areas of competence, has taken over duties on
new areas, such as such as transport and road infrastructure, information
technology, communications and construction. In this context, the ministry's
efforts were oriented towards the consolidation of the newly taken over sectors in
order to ensure an attractive business environment, the development of
instruments entrepreneurial infrastructure, stimulating the increase of the flow
of foreign investment, the development of roadinfrastructure, the promotion of
sustainable energy policies, the development of the ICT industry, etc.
 
2.Taking into account the analysis of macroeconomic indicators for 2017, we
can see that the social-economic evolution of the Republic of Moldova continues
an upward trend, and the economy of the Republic of Moldova has outlined signs
of refreshing. The economic growth is characterized by the evolution of the
Gross Domestic Product, which amounted to 109.4 billion lei in January-
September 2017, and increased compared to the respective period of 2016 by 3.8%.
The volume of industrial production increased by 3.4%. (manufacture of electrical
wires and cables (+43%), processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables
(+180%), manufacture of beverages, including wines (+7.8%), meat processing
and preservation (+ 15.6%), manufacture of rubber and plastic products
(+16.4%), manufacture of clothing (+8.5%) etc.).
 
3. Investment activity is increasing (+2.4%). Inflows of foreign direct
investment in nine months of 2017 amounted to $146.3 million , up 40.7%
compared to the same period in 2016. The inflation rate in January 2018 constituted
0.4% compared to December 2017, registering a decrease of 0.8 percentage
points, compared to the inflation rate in the same period of 2017. The annual
inflation rate was 6.5%, reaching the inflation target level set by the NBM (5%
+/- 1.5%). In the part related to the evolution of foreign trade, in 2017, the
Republic of Moldova managed to increase exports by 18.61%, and imports - by
20.2%. Thus, the exports of goods in 2017 amounted to 2425.1 million
USD, more with 379.8 million dollars compared to 2016, and imports totaled
$4831.4 million, up with $811.1 million.

4.Exports of Moldovan products to the EU market in 2017 reached a value of

USD 1.59 billion, thus representing 65.85% of the total exports of the Republic
of Moldova, up by 19.86% compared to with the same period of 2016. Imports
from the European Union reached a value of 2.39 billion dollars, representing
thus 49.45% of the total imports made in the Republic of Moldova. Compared to
the same period in 2016, imports from the EU show an increase of around
21.04%. As for exports to the CIS market, it constituted 462.9 million
dollars – representing 19.09% of total exports, and imports registered in 2017 -
1.21 billion dollars USA(share 24.96%). Consecutively, with reference to the
main areas/branches of the national economy, which are in the view of the Ministry
of Economy and Infrastructure, during 2017 they Progress has been made on the
following dimensions:
 
5.Business environment and entrepreneurial policy
 
The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure makes essential efforts to
facilitate the process of carrying out the entrepreneurial activity, as well as to
eliminate the constraints on the business environment. Thus, during 2017, a
 number of measureswere taken, as well as amendments were made to the legal
framework in the field. Regarding the legal framework in the field of regulating
the entrepreneurial activity, there is a significant increase in the chapter of
permissive acts. Thus, their number has been reduced from 416 to 151
permissive acts, which include licenses – 33, authorizations – 82, certificates – 36.
The process of financial and statistical reporting for economic agents has been
simplified. Thus, through the Law no.104 of June 9, 2017, the Single Report
was established, replacing the 5 existing reports. As a consequence, the
doubling of the same data in different reports will be eliminated, the volume of
reported data will decrease by about 40%, the economic agents will interact with a
single institution (State TaxService). The single reporting counter is already
launched by the State Tax Service, where the electronic form is integrated.
  
6. Transport and road infrastructure
 
Another complex area of strategic importance , in which the ministry
consolidates its efforts is transport and road infrastructure . In this regard, we
evoke the following progress made:
 - approval of the Concept for the restructuring of the railway sector and of the State
Enterprise"Railways of Moldova" for the years 2018-2021, which provides for the
transformation of this field into a financially sustainable one , technically and
socially, according to the community acquis, able to compete in the future with
other modes of transport both inthe country and in the region;
 - the tender for the acquisition of the main-line locomotives within the
Restructuring Project of the Railways of Moldova was launched. The purchase of
new locomotives will allow the reduction of maintenancecosts, but also the
reduction of carbon emissions;
 - carrying out the feasibility study of the railway infrastructure by the French
company Systra, for prioritizing the segments of railway lines for their
rehabilitation;

 7.- in the case of road transport, the licensing regime has been replaced by the
pre-notification and registration regime.   The notification and registration of
road transport operators being made free of charge, and more than 10 working
days from the moment of registration the operators can already initiate the
activity;
 - as a priority for the ministry is also to simplify the access of transport operators to
the market of regular services in international traffic. These actions will make it
possible to remove the barriers that currently exist and to open up the market to
all road transport operators;
 - all internal procedures for the signing of the protocols amending the
Agreements in the field of road and air transport between the Republic of Moldova
and Ukraine in order to liberalize the transport services;
 - regarding the maintenance and repair of public roads from the sources of the
State budget, we communicate that according to the provisions of the State Budget
Law for 2018, no. 289 of 15.12.2017,are expected for maintenance and repair of
national public roads in the Road Fund, means in the amount of 972.4 million
lei.
 8.For 2018, it is generally planned to carry out works to improve the public
roads within the built-up area of about 340 localities, these will be executed from
the means of the Road Fund , and provide for the repair of about 280 km, in the
amount of 500 million lei. And the remaining amount - 472.4 million lei, will be
used for maintenance (routine, periodic, in winter, ensuring the safety of road
traffic, etc.) national roads with a length of about 5900 km. At the same time, in
order to improve the local public roads, it is planned to allocate from the state
budget about 1105 million lei, means necessary for the repair of about 890 km of
local roads, communal roads and streets,which will improve access to about 830
localities of the country.  At the same time, we communicate that a series of
projects are underway to continue the rehabilitation of the roads in progress,as
well as to launch new ones projects.

9.The ministry's priorities set for 2018

With regard to the priorities set by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure
for 2018, it should be emphasized that they result from the commitments set out
ina set of documents of national and sectoral strategic planning, as well as of
the international collaboration agreements and treaties, the main ones of them
being the National Development Strategy "Moldova 2020", The activity program of
the Government 2016-2018, the Moldova - EU Association Agreement and the
DCFTA component, the Memorandum of Cooperation with the International
Monetary Fund, etc.

10.Thus, in order to achieve the main objective of sustainable economic growth, the
efforts of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, during 2018, will be
directed to the following directions of activity of the fields within the area of
competence,such as:
 - intensification of international economic cooperation and implementation of the
commitments of the Association Agreement / DCFTA;
 - improving the business environment, supporting the small and medium-sized
enterprises sector, developing the investment environment and increasing the
competitiveness of the real sector of the economy;
 - development of the information technology industry and communication
infrastructure;
 - improving the management efficiency of state-owned enterprises;
 - development of road infrastructure;
 - increasing energy security and promoting energy efficiency and renewable
energy sources, etc.

Honourable Members,
Honored assistance,
I would like to mention that the primary goal of the Ministry of Economy and
Infrastructure is to maintain the trends of economic growth and the sustainable
development of all fields of activity that fall within the the powers of the
Ministry, thus ensuring a prosperous life for the citizens of the Republic of
Moldova