OREANDA-NEWS. February 03, 2014. The leadership of the Moldovan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) and representatives of the business environment had a meeting with the former vice president of the European Commission, Gunter Verheugen.

The officials discussed opportunities provided by the creation of the Moldova-EU Free Trade Area, as well as problems faced by the private sector.

According to the CCI’s press service, Gunter Verheugen was interested in the opinion of the economic agents on business climate in Moldova, economic sector potential, export markets in the focus of local companies and expectations of entrepreneurs from a new context created by the signing of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.

CCI head Gheorghe Cucu noted that Moldova enjoyed every support of the EU. “Nevertheless, there is a question whether Moldova’s economy is ready to turn to good account all these opportunities. I mean here both the competitiveness of the public sector – energy efficiency policies, legislative framework etc, and of the private sector: efficient management, meeting the needs and implementing quality standards etc. We have to make efforts and take relevant measures, if we do not want to find ourselves in the situation when we have full access to the EU market, but could not benefit from this openness”, Cucu noted.

The economic agents attending the meeting highlighted the need to set up terrestrial infrastructure, logistics and the staff professional training issue.

Gunter Verheugen stressed that the rapprochement with EU, legislation adjusting, implementation of standards and requirements similar to those from the European Union will facilitate the investments attraction, as they will boost foreign investors’ confidence in Moldova.