OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2012. Deputy prime Minister, Economics Minister Valeriu Lazar and Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Clark Larson discussed trends of cooperation between the Economics Ministry (ME) and the USAID at a meeting, the ME s information and media communication service.

Clark Larson has said the institution he represents assumed the role of foreign assistance coordinator in the field of improving regulations on business environment, at a request by the Economics Ministry. He also said the USAID will initiate a new project in this sector next May.

The official also informed about the institution's interest to extend the Competitiveness Enhancement and Enterprise Development (CEED-II) project on three new sectors of the economy, among which services for call centres, automotive industry and emerging sectors for export, such as tourism.

In this respect, the two officials agreed upon the CEED-II project to help strengthen the education system, in order to provide both the necessary number of employees for call centres, and to supply the labour market with a sustainable offer of qualified engineers who are to meet the demand coming from industry. Besides, the American official emphasized that, to develop the economy, it is indispensably to improve the business regulatory environment, customs administration and combat corruption.

Deputy Prime Minister Valeriu Lazar stressed that the industry presently faces two major problems: shortage of specialists with technical education and need to streamline the foreign trade. At the same time, it is necessary to diversify the industry both in sectors and geographic regions, in order to ensure the sustainability of economic development. In this respect, the economics minister welcomed the USAID's involvement in the regional development process via backing and developing capacities of the regional development agencies (ADR) and local public authorities to formulate and implement economic projects. The deputy prime minister spoke out in favour of an operational autonomy of the ADRs, that are to become nuclei of a network of development institutions in rural regions, in concert with other institutions.

In this context, the economics minister asked for USAID's support to work out a strategic document on the continuation of the regulatory reform and backing to enhance the competitiveness of economic agents, especially in terms of implementing quality management systems. Also, Valeriu Lazar demanded involvement of professional associations from diverse sectors of the economy, set up with the support of the CEED-II project, in the negotiation of the agreement on the creation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU. In this way, the economic agents will be able to protect their interests when the market is opened for European companies.

The 9.15-million-dollar-worth Competitiveness Enhancement and Enterprise Development project backs Moldova's efforts to promote a strong, diversified and export-oriented economy via improving competitiveness and efficiency of the Moldovan industry's key branches.