The opportunities for regional cooperation and the potential of connecting the Republic of Moldova to road, energy and communications infrastructure projects within the Three Seas Initiative were presented in Chisinau at a conference organized by Public Association Partnerships for the New Economy with the support of the Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Moldova, Europe Café and the embassies of the member states of the Initiative.
Guests from the member states presented the working mechanisms within the Initiative. The priorities of the 9th Summit and the Business Forum were also exposed, events that will take place on April 11, 2024 in Vilnius and to which the Republic of Moldova was invited.
"The participation of the Republic of Moldova in this Initiative is a unique opportunity in the process of European integration, to get even closer to our neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, through the implementation of joint projects in strategic fields.
European integration represents the fundamental strategic objective of the country and is a desire of the entire society. For us, this means economic prosperity, strengthened democratic values, security and a better life for every citizen. The European path we have chosen is not easy, but it is the only path that can ensure the true modernization of the country, which we have been looking for for decades, and high living standards for our citizens."
said, at the opening, the director of the Partnership Association for the New Economy, Natalia Gavrilița.
The Three Seas Initiative is a platform at the presidential level of EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe. The initiative aims to increase convergence and cohesion, in parallel with reducing the economic development gap between different areas and EU member states, by increasing interconnectivity in the fields of energy, transport and the digital environment. Moldova was invited to join as an associated state at the Initiative Summit in 2023, which was hosted by Romania.
"Most European Union states are small countries, and the economic development model is based on connectivity and openness. The expectations of the Republic of Moldova from the Three Seas Initiative are the development of the economy by opening and strengthening relations with the member states. Also, a major objective is to attract investment for infrastructure projects, which we so badly need. On the digitalization dimension, Moldova has already gained several advantages, but here too we want a boost in cooperation, for creation of new opportunities, as we see in the Baltic states, for example,"
pointed out Dumitru Alaiba, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization.
In order to accelerate the interconnection between the member states, they founded in 2019 an Investment Fund that functions on commercial basis and market economy principles, with the aim of facilitating the financing of joint projects in the field of transport, energy and digital infrastructure. The Fund's resources complement the efforts of the national budgets and those of the private sector, as well as the European funds present in the region, thus ensuring investment in multiple projects at different stages of implementation.
"The issues lingering to economic development can be solved much more easily with the influx of private financial resources that supplement public resources. In the case of the Republic of Moldova, in the context of the implementation of large infrastructure projects and the involvement of the Investment Fund within the Three Seas Initiative, internal private resources could be mobilized for which there are currently few investment opportunities, except for state securities,"
said Dumitru Budianschi, chairman of the National Financial Market Commission, to participants at the event.
The Three Seas Initiative is a political platform forged by 12 states located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. These countries constitute 28% of the territory and 22% of the EU population.
The Partnerships for New Economy is hub for analysis and reflection with focus on promoting the economic convergence of Moldova with the European Union member states. PNE is an independent non-profit organization that serves as a platform for mobilizing people and developing solutions for a strong and resilient Moldovan economy, ready for new challenges in the future.