About the Export Competitiveness Programme
and internationalisation of SMEs

The programme offers an integrated approach to support MSMEs in introducing international practices in order to develop the productivity and competitiveness of local businesses and their inter-training.

The Programme for Increasing Export Competitiveness and Internationalization of MSMEs combines the Government Programme for Increasing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and their Internationalization, approved by Government Decision No. 439/2020 and funded from the state budget, and the Business Co-Financing Grant under the World Bank-funded MSME Competitiveness Project.

Participants in the Programme can be:

• enterprises defined as MSEs according to Law No 179/2016 on small and medium-sized enterprises;
• enterprises applying for support in accessing business development services have submitted annual financial statements for the last 2 years of activity to the National Bureau of Statistics, and enterprises applying for support in procuring tangible and intangible assets have submitted annual financial statements to the National Bureau of Statistics for at least the last 3 consecutive years of activity, during which period they demonstrate a continuous increase in sales revenue and profit (except for the years in which there were periods declared a state of emergency according to Law No. 212/2004 on the regime of state of emergency, siege and war);
• the direct beneficiaries of this Programme are MMUs registered in the Register of Legal Entities of the Republic of Moldova.
• are planning to expand into new markets and/or substitute imports of products/services into the Republic of Moldova.
• register positive values in the last reporting year in relation to the total equity indicator.

NB! Peasant households are not eligible

Through the Programme companies can access support for:  

1. purchase of business development services:
   • corporate or product image development (brandbook design, packaging, labels, website, video);
   • advice on intellectual property protection and registration of intellectual property rights;
   • market research and development of product promotion strategies/plans;
   • development and integration of financial, management or production information systems (CRM, ERP, CAD);
   • implementation of international and European product and service standards, including management system standards;
   • employee training and internal organisational development;
   • consultancy services on reorganisation of production processes and labelling of the finished product;
   • development of the strategic development plan, setting of objectives and expansion actions;
   • establishment of the logistics process and preparation of export documents.
     • Attention: Expenditure on the implementation of strategies, marketing and promotion plans, such as payments, subscriptions for the promotion of companies, products on websites and social networks, search engines, etc., and services similar to the activity carried out by the beneficiary company are not eligible for funding;
2. purchase of tangible and intangible assets.
   • purchase of tangible fixed assets (equipment, machinery, plant);
   • purchase of intangible fixed assets (purchase of intellectual property, licences, software)

For the own contribution exceeding the amount of grant requested from the ODA, no ceiling on eligible expenditure is applied.

Ineligible costs on account of non-reimbursable financial support as well as own contribution under the Programme are:

• costs of goods and services or the share thereof covered by other assistance programmes/projects and/or state grants, including own contribution;
• business development services and tangible and intangible fixed assets purchased up to the signing of the financing contract between the I.P. ODA and the beneficiary;
• exchange losses;
• purchase of second-hand goods;
• taxes and duties;
• transport services;
• payments made in cash;
• financing of leasing and credit costs, including interest and commissions;
• costs of renting or leasing premises/offices/land necessary for the activity;
• consumables and administrative expenses;
• staff remuneration costs;
• VAT expenditure;
• cost of labour, installation services;
• purchase of transport units;
• purchase of building materials;
• agricultural technology, eligible for subsidy from the National Fund for Agricultural and Rural Development, according to Annex No 3 to the Regulation on the method of distribution of funds from the National Fund for Agricultural and Rural Development, approved by Government Decision No 455/2017 on the method of distribution of funds from the National Fund for Agricultural and Rural Development.

The assessment of environmental and social aspects, in accordance with national legislation and World Bank environmental and social standards, is part of the screening, appraisal and selection process for investment projects to benefit from this programme.

Thus, following receipt of a request for co-financing, the environmental and social appraisal and selection of investment projects will include the following steps:

Verify the eligibility of the co-financing request by applying the List of activities, which are not eligible for co-financing, including the World Bank Exclusion List

The applicant shall complete and submit the Environmental and Social Verification Sheet (Sheet No 1).

Based on the information and data submitted by the applicant, the Environmental and Social Check Sheet (Sheet No 2) will be completed by the environmental and social specialists and the investment project will be assigned to one of the risk categories (A, B or C).

Note:

• Category A - planned activities that require a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) and are specified in Annex 1 of the Law #86/2014 on environmental impact assessment, projects located or located in the vicinity of sensitive environmental areas and endangered species areas; on or near archaeological and/or historical sites, or there are important social or cultural objects/facilities.
• Category B - planned activities that may have adverse impacts on the environment and are specified in Annex 2 to Law #86/2014 on Environmental Impact Assessment and Annex 1 to Law #851/1996 on Environmental Expertise (in force until 21.10.2023).
• Category C - planned activities that are assumed to have no or minor direct impact on the environment and therefore do not need to go through formal Environmental Impact Assessment or Ecological Expertise* procedures.

* FGM involves providing support to existing businesses/activities with a focus on supporting business development services including certification, training and procurement of ancillary technological equipment. Thus, it is anticipated that the majority of activities supported will be in Risk Category C.

Depending on the risk category assigned and the results of the environmental and social assessment, a recommendation for approval or non-approval of co-financing will be issued, including an Action Plan with the necessary measures to be taken to avoid or mitigate potential environmental and social impacts during the implementation of the investments.

The Action Plan will be attached to the Grant Contract and the Beneficiary will be responsible for its implementation within the specified terms.

Environmental and social specialists will monitor the implementation of the mitigation measures included in the Action Plan.

The monitoring of environmental and social issues during the implementation of the project aims to identify potential risks and impacts early, avoid or mitigate them in a timely manner and determine the effectiveness of the proposed measures and undertake corrective actions where necessary.

In case of non-compliance with the environmental and social provisions of the contract, the ODA specialists (with the assistance of the environmental and social specialists) will investigate the nature and reason(s) for non-compliance and identify and agree on the necessary measures to be taken to bring the project into compliance, or a decision will be taken to suspend co-financing.