On Thursday 4 June, at the EU-Moldova Investment Conference in Chișinău, European Commissioner Marta Kos announced investment plans and project initiatives worth up to €641 million, in coordination with international financial institutions, private sector partners and public stakeholders.
The objective is to strengthen Moldova’s economic resilience, improve its infrastructure, broaden its access to finance and accelerate its integration into European value chains. The initiatives will support strategic sectors including energy, digital infrastructure, education and sustainable agriculture.
Based on the Growth Plan for the Republic of Moldova, up to €433 million has been committed in the form of EU grants, guarantees and loans, in cooperation with international financial institutions. New investment projects have been announced, including those from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the modernisation of school infrastructure and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to strengthen digital infrastructure and services, develop strategic investment frameworks and enhance the private sector’s competitiveness and innovation.
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) and the Green for Growth Fund (GGF) will support broader access to finance for businesses and households.
Speaking to the media, Marta Kos noted that no other EU candidate country with a growth plan had achieved such a high rate of implementation as Moldova, which stands at 93%.
Furthermore, under the call for expressions of interest for private investment in Moldova, eight projects representing up to €208 million in investment have been selected. They cover areas such as digital technology, value chains, medicine, transport and agri-food (see the list: https://aeur.eu/f/m6f ). Ms Kos specified that more than 75 projects had been submitted in response to the call and that the Commission was currently analysing them.
According to the Moldovan government, the private sector has announced investments totalling €364 million.
Enlargement. Alongside Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, the commissioner reiterated that Moldova was ready to open all its accession negotiation chapters (clusters). The first of these is due to open on 15 June (see EUROPE 13880/9), and Ms Kos hoped that the others would follow suit “before the summer holidays”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)