A delegation made up of representatives of the European Commission, World Bank, Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investments Bank have been recently on visit to Chisinau. The delegation members had a string of meetings to revise the energy sector, and namely the Moldovan 2008-2011 Energy Strategy.
The conclusions were unveiled at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Economics Minister Valeriu Lazar.
The Economics Ministry's public relations service has said that the meeting's goal was to discuss a set of conclusions formulated by the delegation members and identify the next concrete steps of cooperation between the Moldovan government and its principal development partners, so as to implement the reforms in the energy sector.
Valeriu Lazar gave assurances to the delegation members that, presently, the problems from the energy sector are among the priority ones, stressing that their settlement imply in-depth structural reforms. To this end, Moldova is open for collaboration, and any support on behalf of its development partners is welcome, as there is the necessary political will to change the situation in the concerned sector.
The representatives of the donor institutions hailed the adoption of new laws on electric energy and natural gas, as well as the recent decisions on the liberalisation of the electric energy market. This fact emphasized the importance of Moldova's accession to the Energy Community (EC). After a protocol on Moldova joining the EC is signed in Vienna on 17 March 2010, the energy regulation system will start improving. The system is aimed at providing quality electric energy, enhancing the market competitiveness, reducing prices, as well as wooing foreign investments in the concerned field. The economics minister said that the new draft law on energy efficiency will be submitted to the government and parliament for adoption.
Following the discussions, the sides agreed on Moldova sending an updated copy of the Moldovan 2008-2011 Energy Strategy to the European Commission till late next April, in line with the most recent evolutions on the national and international energy market.
The set of conclusions, reached after the four meetings held during the visit to Chisinau by the above delegation, regards energy sector's fields of increased importance and up-to-dateness, such as: EBRD's willingness to finance the construction of an electric line Balti-Suceava, payment of old debts in the thermal energy and gas sector, development of a competitive energy market and attracting the necessary investments to this end, support of less well-off people in the conditions of increase of the tariffs for thermal energy and electricity in the first quarter of 2010, etc.
Moldpres