MD-EU Association Agreement from the perspective of Moldovan entrepreneurs

The Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union came into force more than one year ago. Thus in our country began a long process of transposition into national law of European standards and regulations. With the help of the UK-MD project „Reform Assistance to Moldova”, initiated by the UK Government, we tried to find from the entrepreneurs in our country how was affected their activity by these changes.

Veaceslav Panis is the director of the company "SunPrints", a studio in charge of producing multicolor printing and applying images to indoor objects, decoration items, advertising materials and other various types of prints. The company is active on the market of Moldova since 2011. With the implementation of the DCFTA the company began exporting its products in EU countries.

"DCFTA creates new opportunities for business development, especially to promote exports to the European Union. The lack of customs duties on imports in the European countries at our range of printed products and the simplified procedures for export had a positive impact on business. Basically, we started the export activity in early 2015, immediately after the implementation of the DCFTA. We managed to find partners in Romania, which is our neighbor, and in countries like Italy, Greece, France or England", says the entrepreneur.

With the implementation of the DCFTA, gradually are taking place a series of legislative and regulatory changes that lead almost to the complete change of the conditions of doing business in Moldova. These changes are meant to grow and develop quality infrastructure and to make the local producers more competitive on external markets. However, there is a barrier in the way of entrepreneurs - namely accessibility to necessary information.

"The modernization is a very important process in any business and the implementation of DCFTA brings new opportunities in this respect, but the process is very expensive and complex. It requires a special approach in which access to information, technical assistance and financial assistance can play a crucial role. The electronic communication significantly facilitates our work in this area. But in addition to the raw information it is very important to develop the communication platforms, the exchange of experience and views between businesses, government representatives and NGOs", says Veaceslav Panis.

The entrepreneur mentions that regularly attend this type of seminars, designed to increase the level of knowledge of the DCFTA provisions and how to implement them. According to Veaceslav Panis, the information campaigns, seminars, and trainings are an effective method to motivate businesses to increase their production quality and thus to increase exports to the European Union.

Source: www.agora.md