The Council is led by the Prime Minister and it meets upon his initiative. The plenary meetings, in full componence of the Council, are meant for organizing, planning, and reporting the activity of the Council. Additionally, the plenary meetings are used to discuss the most intricate problems which need Prime Ministers’ special attention.

The activity of the Council is based on freedom of expression and transparency in debates. For a more efficient performance, permanent thematic working groups and temporary (ad-hoc) working groups were created within the Council since 2016.

Every group is coordinated and led by a member of the working group elected via simple majority of votes.

All the permanent members of the Council are invited to attend the meetings of the working groups, and according to the practice of 2016, such meetings are mainly attended by the members whose activity refers to the topic debated in the meeting.

Permanent Working Groups:

Group No. 1 – Eliminating constraints in entrepreneurial activity Covered areas: optimization of state controls, fiscal administration, issuance of permits, facilitation of domestic trade and other. Group Coordinator: Mila Malairău (Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova)

Group No. 2 – Facilitating green transition and cross-border trade. Covered areas: optimization of Customs’ administration, facilitation of permits’ issuance for export, increasing competitiveness and quality of export-oriented products, harnessing DCFTA opportunities, transition to the green economy and other.
Group Coordinator: Mariana Rufa (Executive Director, European Business Association in Moldova)

Group No. 3 – Stimulation and retention of private investments Covered areas: creation and optimization of incentives for investments, facilitation of access to financial resources, improvement of the regulatory framework for ensuring fair competition, development of human capital and vocational training according to the market needs, and other.
Group Coordinator: Ana Groza (Executive Director, Foreign Investors Association in
Moldova)

Group No. 4 – Curb the phenomenon of grey salaries and informal employment. The Working Group is going to explore the benefits and costs of various actions, and find a balanced menu of solutions to reduce informal employment, without significantly affecting the business activity and the national budget. Group Coordinator: Vladislav Caminschi (Executive director of the National Confederation of Employers)

Group No. 5 – Increasing Moldova’s competitiveness in the context of EU accession. Group Coordinator: Dan Nuțiu Executive Chairman of the Association of Investors from Romania in Moldova

Group No. 6 – Labor Market Development. The aim of the group is to identify solutions that will help to harmonize the demand and supply on the Moldovan labor market. Group Coordinator: Sergiu Harea (President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the RM)

Group No. 7 – “Advisory Council for Small and Medium Enterprises”. The main mission consists in identifying key issues, concerns and needs of small and medium enterprises in Moldova. Group Coordinator: Minister of Economic Development and Digitisation, with Liliana Busuioc, Executive Director of the Employers’ Association Alliance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Moldova, as Vice-Chair.

Group No. 8 – “Consultative Council for the Digitisation of the Economy – iCouncil”. The main mission: promoting reforms on digital interaction between Government / Business and Business / Consumers. roup Coordinator: Minister of Economic Development and Digitisation. Deputy coordinator: Irina Oriol, Executive Director of the Moldovan Association of ICT Companies.

Group No. 9 National Council for Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality. The Working Group aims to support the implementation of the Roadmap for Women’s Economic Empowerment, to contribute to the creation and promotion of gender-sensitive policies and a fair, inclusive and family-friendly business environment. Vice-Chair of the Working Group: Carolina Bugaian, President of the Council of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Moldova.

How we work:

ALERT – The Prime minister, representatives of the business community as well as any other member of the Economic Council can inform the Economic Council Secretariat about a problem that complicates business development, and cannot be solved by the relevant state authority.

ANALYSIS –Once the problem reaches the Secretariat, the team starts to gather more information on the issue. Facts and data are collected and stakeholders are interviewed. The topic is prepared for discussions either under a permanent working group (WG) or an ad-hoc one. An expert from the team is assigned to coordinate the process.

MEETINGS – In due time, the EC members are announced about the planned meeting of the working group and its agenda. The members, those interested to participate, delegate their representatives. If needed, other experts, non EC members, can be invited too. During the meeting, opinions are discussed in an open and non-discriminatory manner. Following the WG meeting, press releases are made and placed on the official website of the Council.

RECOMMENDATIONS –The EC Secretariat drafts a note for the Prime Minister informing about the context of the problem and presenting recommendations on the following steps.

PM’S REQUESTS – Prime Minister issues an official request to the state authority in charge of the issue discussed, asking to implement the proposed solutions in a well-defined period of time.

FOLLOW-UP –In order to support the responsible state institutions in solving the issue according to the PM’s request, the EC Secretariat provides on-demand support (i.e. co-drafting legislation, re-engineering procedures, etc.). The team continues to monitor further evolution and provides needed assistance until the problem is solved. The Secretariat PR expert informs wide public on the process and the results achieved.