OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2014. The document was signed in Chisinau on November 15 2013 by Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry of Moldova Vasile Bumacov and WB Country Manager for Moldova Abdoulaye Seck.

The money is to be disbursed by the World Bank as the manager of the grant. The grant is allotted by the Sweden government for implementation of the Agriculture Competitiveness project with the total commitment of USD25.3 million. The project is backed by The World Bank and other donors. To have the program implemented the World Bank has issued a loan of USD 18 million via the International Development Association. A grant of USD 4.4 million is provided by the Global Environment Facility, co-founded by the World Bank, and about USD 2.8 million are granted by the government of Sweden.

The government of Moldova is to invest USD 2 million. The Competitive Agriculture project will last 5 years and till June 30 2017. The project aims to support farmers of Moldova by backing modernization of the post-harvesting infrastructure and food safety management system; to facilitate market access for farmers and mainstream agro-environmental and sustainable land management practices. It is designed to uphold export competitiveness enhancing reforms, investment attraction and Moldova’s trade integration with the EU. Under the program an electronic system will be developed to improve transparency of the food safety system for European importers to have more confidence in Moldovan goods.