OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2012. The first round of negotiations on the agreement on deep and comprehensive free trade area between Moldova and the European Union fully confirmed the expectations of officials and experts.

The talks with the European negotiators were held very good. Without surprises and major divergences. Both Moldovan side and the European one expressed satisfaction with the attained result. "We are pleased with the results of the negotiations of the first round, obviously, being a very good preparation for the second round due in Brussels this June", chief negotiator of the European Commission Luc Devigne said. Moldova's chief negotiator, Deputy Economics Minister Octavian Calmic described the first round of negotiations as "successful enough".

It is true that during the first round, there were not approached the most sensible issues. The Chisinau round of negotiations was as a meeting of strategic planning of a process, which will last until autumn 2013, when the agreement is scheduled to be signed. On the one hand, there were consolidated teams of negotiations on each of those 13 sub-chapters covered by the agreement, and on the other hand, there was set a list of issues to be settled. All the juridical aspects of the document were established. The negotiators fixed a clear agenda of activities and responsibilities, which are expected to be fulfilled until the next round of negotiations, due in Brussels this June.

Moldova did not come with a white sheet before the EU. During two years, the European Union and Moldova are operating on the key-regulations for a free trade, including on the issues related to the sensible sectors, such as agriculture. It counted and will count much in negotiating process, which will become more difficult, when it gets on to the tariff concessions.

A road trip was set. The agenda of negotiations will include like in the Chisinau round 13 groups having touching point with a free and civilized trade, especially, the trade on goods and services, competition, technical barriers in commerce, sanitary measures, standardization, infrastructure, customs management, energy and public acquisitions.

Moldova has all the chances to quickly complete the negotiations on the free trade agreement, but its implementation will depend very much on the reforms' quality, according to the economists' unanimous opinion. The national economy is poorly prepared for a quick adjustment to the European standards on development, and this process will last, director of the Institute for Economy, Finance and Statistics Alexandru Stratan said. And namely when it is about the agricultural sector. If we benefit from the export quotas on the European market several years, the agricultural producers could not sell their production in the West, as it does not meet the EU criteria.

Although there is a confidence advance from the EU, the negotiations on the sensible sectors, especially, the tariff concessions, will not be easy. A recent example would be the excise on cigarettes, when Chisinau managed to reach a compromise with the EU, following the long-lasting talks. The period for implementation of the taxes at the level of the European ones was fixed until 2025 and not 2018, as insisted initially by the EU.

The second round seems to be "redaction" of the juridical texts. The agreement's tariff concessions will be discussed during the third round of negotiations in September. But Moldova wants to come to the roundtable with the well-prepared lesson. The Economics Ministry has already made a string of sectoral surveys, on which basis a list of concessions will be worked out and negotiated. During the next months, there will be carried out exchanges of statistics of data on trade exchanges, and elaborated the key-recommendations for concessions in various sectors especially, referring to the sanitary and phytosanitary sectors. Also, there will be presented the legislative documents stipulating these sectors and the road trip while implementing the technical regulations and the harmonized European standards.

Great difficulties in negotiating process will surely appear, where there are interests, many sectors are monopolized and therefore, it will be difficult for some people to accept equal conditions for activity, consultant at the BIS Capital Company Vlad Furdui said. He noted that the agricultural sector is poorly prepared to face the trade liberalization.

The dialogue on the creation of a free trade area with the EU, initiated in early 2010, leaves the impression that Moldova always comes to the roundtable with the well-prepared lesson. It is about the fulfilment of the pre-conditions before starting these negotiations and the first round. There were taken over only more than 3,700 EU standards from about 20,000. There are standards coming from the Soviet system. The first steps are taken in building a solid system on the food safety. Moreover, the laboratories for assessing the conformity are not recognized by the EU.

"Everything depends on the results of negotiations and on preparation of sectors to compete on a free market, where one can have access to benefits and can extend opportunity for export", Deputy Minister Octavian Calmic said. He noted that certain risks can be for a short term, while for a medium and long term - the benefits "are at a higher level than these minor risks".

In this context, it is important that for certain sectors, which are poorly prepared, some transition periods should be negotiated to a deeper liberalization. Surely, the Moldovan side will ask for a gradual passing to liberalization for many agricultural products, many experts on the field said.

The trade exchanges with the European countries increased by about 40 per cent reaching 3.34 billion dollars in 2011, Moldova having the real opportunities to reach 5 billion dollars the next years. One of growth motors will become the liberalization of the trade with one of the biggest markets of the world.