12 August 2021 – Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation Iurie Turcanu and Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu held a working meeting with experts of the Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova on the agenda of digitisation of the economy and improvement of the business environment. During the discussions, the officials were informed about the progress in the implementation of the topics on the agenda of the Economic Council and the challenges in finding solutions to the issues raised by the Moldovan business community.

Thus, the experts of the Secretariat of the Economic Council informed the members of the Government that at the moment a greater emphasis within the EC platform is put on promoting the topics of the Roadmap for boosting the process of digitization of the national economy and development of e-commerce.

In this context, the officials discussed the possibility of creating a consultative tool that would boost the promotion and adoption of topics related to the digitization of the economy, addressed by the business community and donor institutions, which support the digitization of G2B relations, as well as other economic and social processes.

In the same vein, experts from the Economic Council Secretariat noted that the first digitisation package is ready to be promoted in Parliament, and experts now focusing on the second legislative package. The aim of these documents is to amend legal provisions that would allow the Moldovan business community to interact remotely with a number of state institutions.

The process of digitisation of state services, which the business community accesses, needs to gain momentum in Moldova, said Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Turcanu.  The input and support of the business community in promoting these changes is very important, as it will allow to avoid as much as possible mistakes in the implementation of reforms in these areas, the Deputy Prime Minister added.

The Operational Plan of the Economic Council was also discussed during the same meeting. It contains about 25 topics, alerted by the business community and donor institutions. These include the drafting and promotion of the bill on food waste, economic empowerment of women, reduction of cash in the economy, support to the activity of Small and Medium Enterprises in the country, etc.

More than 97% of enterprises in Moldova are in the small and medium category. Their work for the national economy is very important. To this end, we are planning to simplify the interaction of the private sector with state institutions and to digitise these processes as much as possible,” said the Minister of Economy.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed the Government’s Action Plan for the next 4 years, which is now being drafted. The representatives of the Executive noted that many topics from the Roadmap for boosting the process of digitization of the national economy and development of e-commerce, and topics from the EC Operational Plan are also reflected in the Government document. Thus, in order to promote the topics on the agenda of the Economic Council more effectively, a number of them could be included in the Government’s Work Plan, the participants in the meeting said.

The agenda of the Economic Council contains important topics for the national economy, the participants in the discussions said. Both the Roadmap and the Platform’s Operational Plan are of interest to representatives of state institutions in the context of completing and elaborating the Government’s economic development plans, the officials added.

The Economic Council to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova is a platform for cooperation between the business community and the authorities, aimed at facilitating the process of improving the business environment. At present, the Economic Council under the Prime Minister has 56 business associations, 8 representatives of the research community, 11 representatives of international organisations active in the field of business environment reforms and 47 representatives of public authorities and institutions as members. The President of the Economic Council is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova and the Vice President is the Minister of Economy.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.