Tiraspol, February 16. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The outcome of the meeting of expert (working) groups on economics was described by the First Deputy Chairman of the Government - Minister of Economic Development Sergey Obolonik as practically inconclusive. The meeting took place at the OSCE mission`s office in Tiraspol.
The Pridnestrovian side, at meetings of working groups, as well as political representatives, is persistently trying to improve the situation regarding the blocked cargo of its exporters, as well as new customs duties against Pridnestrovian companies.
However, there is no progress. Pridnestrovie still does not receive any clear answers to their questions.
“We did not hear not only a change in position, but in a number of cases, answers to our questions. The situation tends to get worse. There were no constructive proposals. The meeting was more of an informational nature. That is, we once again outlined all our concerns to both the Moldovan side and the meeting participants,” Sergey Obolonik commented following the meeting.
According to him, the composition of the Moldovan delegation at this meeting was such that its participants were more focused on discussing agricultural issues. Therefore, Tiraspol saw virtually no reaction to the voiced problems of the Pridnestrovian exporters - Elektromash, Moldavizolit and Potencial.
“The effectiveness is very low, but the good news is that we have the opportunity to not only reach the Moldovan side, but also all participants in the process who hear problems, hear positions, hear that the ongoing blockade measures go beyond logic and common sense,” the Minister of Economic Development added.
At the same time, representatives of the OSCE mission also began to express their concern about measures of economic pressure on Pridnestrovie.
“The position of the OSCE was expressed, which is concerned about the blocking of the Elektromash and Moldavizolit enterprises, which export products. And in terms of collecting duties and discriminatory measures, in which our enterprises, even having the potential opportunity, cannot obtain a EURO-1 certificate due to the lack of accounts in Moldovan banks,” Sergey Obolonik added.
Meanwhile, the damage caused to the Pridnestrovian budget due to duties is growing every day. In January alone, the budget of Moldova received about 8 million rubles.
In addition to direct financial losses, our economy is also experiencing a decrease in the activity of entrepreneurs. New duties introduced by Moldova in January without any warning automatically lead to higher prices for imported goods.
“They all laid low, stopped importing, and, surely, they are assessing whether it now makes sense to import or whether the business is losing its viability somewhere. We see this, we see absolutely colossal reductions in import and export indicators relative to the same period. That is, the situation, unfortunately, is very bad and difficult. There are entrepreneurs` losses, there are losses of the budget,” the First Deputy Prime Minister notes.
The budget of Moldova will only benefit from this. Since Pridnestrovians, when they go shopping to a neighboring country, spend money there. In addition, some economic agents are forced to purchase goods on the Moldovan market. And this means revenues from VAT to the budget of the neighboring country.
