OREANDA-NEWS. July 30, 2013. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will support the creation of an Economic Council to the Prime Minister by providing a 300,000-euro-grant. The launch of the council was announced by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and by the Managing Director for Turkey, Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia of the EBRD, Olivier Descamps.

Olivier Descamps said that the economic council would facilitate the dialogue between the business people and government. “The EBRD provides support to the government in its attempts to make a change and to improve the business environment in Moldova,” the official said.

Leanca said that the economic council would be an advisory institution streamlined to improve the business environment, to increase the investment attractiveness, to simplify the procedures in the state institutions, to remove the barriers that dissatisfy businesses and to implement new tools of e-government.

The council will bring together state institutions, business and investor associations, donors supporting the development of the private sector, as well as representatives of civil society.

The EBRD is one of the largest investors in Moldova. Since 1994, the bank has signed 100 investment projects in Moldova, covering the energy, transport, agribusiness, general industry and banking sectors, amounting to about 900 million euros.