Regional development issues were discussed today at the meeting of the Prime Minister Pavel Filip with representatives of the donor community that funds projects in this area. The Prime Minister thanked the European partners for their long-term support in implementing the reform agenda and support of the European course of the Republic of Moldova, including through assistance projects of regional development.
Therewith, Pavel Filip stressed the importance of implementing the Association Agenda and the Roadmap, as well as the desire to enhance this process. The Prime Minister also referred to the current visit of the mission of experts from the International Monetary Fund in Moldova and noted the Government’s determination to sign a new agreement with the IMF and recover the confidence of the development partners.
“Improving the standards of living and the quality of life of citizens is an absolute priority, and in this regard implementation of appropriate and effective region development policies is crucial for the country’s prosperity”, Pavel Filip emphasized.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the role of the local public authority and the civil society in promoting regional development policies and the Government concern for ensuring sustainability of foreign assistance projects. “We shall strengthen the capacities of assimilation of external funds and monitor their effective and transparent implementation within both programs of support for the country, as well as regional and cross-border cooperation programs”, the Prime Minister said.
On their turn, representatives of the donor countries requested to consider in developing the reform of the central public administration the regional development as a priority so as to enable a balanced development of the regions through a rigorous, transparent and competitive selection of projects of the regions. Also, the European partners have talked about the need to apply a strict control mechanism on the use of public funds, capacity building of operation of the Regional Development Agencies and the Regional Development Councils.
A special issue of the discussion was the role of the civil society and the media in monitoring implementation of projects. In the opinion of the representatives of the donor community, it is very important for the society to realize that the regional development projects funded from abroad belong to local communities.
