The Prime Minister Iurie Leanca attended the inauguration of the Fourth International Conference on overcoming regional disparities, held in Chisinau on 21-22 May 2014.
During his speech, the Prime Minister talked about development priorities of the Republic of Moldova, noting that our country is firmly standing on the path of European integration.
‘Regional development policy is an important component of the national development agenda, but also a solid pillar underpinning our European approach. It is precisely the regions that form the basis of modern Europe and regional development is one of the defining priorities of the European Union. And we, in the Republic of Moldova, are convinced that any economic or social policy promoted by the state must have a regional reflection’ said the Prime Minister.
Iurie Leanca stressed the importance of regional development for the achievement of the Government’s main objectives: job opportunity creation, economic growth, improved quality of life and sustainable development. Meanwhile, the head of the government said that economic processes polarization in favour of the city capital and obsolete economic structure which we inherited from the Soviet system has generated some major economic and social imbalances, the effect of which is the abandonment of rural areas by young people, labour migration abroad and infrastructure degradation.
‘Still we are determined to change this state of things. Proof is the fact that for us regional policy is an instrument of financial solidarity, a driving force for cohesion and economic integration, bringing tangible benefits to disadvantaged people and less developed regions. Therefore, reducing disparities between regions – particularly in terms of income and level of development – is the basic principle of cohesion policy that is followed by the government , and international cooperation in this regard is defining ‘, declared Iurie Leanca.
The Prime Minister highly appreciated the contribution of Moldovan partners for multilateral development our country, especially those employed in European trans-border and transnational cooperation programmes. Iurie Leanca said that the high number of projects submitted under these programmes indicates an active participation of the Republic of Moldova to the processes of regional cooperation in Central and South -Eastern Europe, in the region of the Black Sea and the eastern dimension. The trans-border cooperation is an important component and an effective mechanism from the perspective of European integration.
Iurie Leanca expressed his gratitude to local and foreign institutions that made possible the organization of the conference: Ministry of Regional Development and Construction, German Government through the German Development Cooperation through GIZ, the European Commission, the Swedish Government and the United Nations Development Programme. The Prime Minister said that it is valuable not only because it focuses on finding practical solutions to the existing challenges, but also because in Chisinau gathered the best experts in the field of EU countries, candidate countries and those in accession – from Adriatic Sea to Tbilisi and from Warsaw to Turkey.
International Conference on overcoming regional disparities ‘Implementation of regional development policies: what are the key factors for success? ‘ was organized for the first time in Chisinau. First three editions of the conference took place in Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.
