Press releases

Around 100 companies from the Republic of Moldova and Japan, as well as national business support institutions, met on an online platform. The Business Bridges Japan-Moldova event was held by the Organisation for the Development of the Sector of Small and Medium Enterprises (ODIMM) and the Japonese Organisation for Foreign Trade (JETRO) with the support of the project “Advice to the Government of the Republic of Moldova in Economic Policies”, implemented by GIZ Moldova with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC).

In the opening of the event, the Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, Sergiu Railean, stated that Japan is an important economic partner for our country, as demonstrated by the increasing figures on bilateral trade, but also on nipone investment in Moldova. In 2019, the Republic of Moldova’s foreign trade with Japan amounted to USD 53.56 million and between January and March 2020 the total trade volume reached USD 13.204 million.

“The use of tools to promote investment and export opportunities for Moldovan products, such as B2B events, forums, exhibitions and economic missions, are very important for strengthening economic relations, increasing bilateral trade and developing new investment projects. They also want to exprimate my assistance by the Government of Japan to the Republic of Moldova through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for various bilateral cooperation projects in areas such as agriculture, education, culture, economy and the environment,” said Sergiu Railean.

In turn, ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Moldova, Yoshihiro Katayama, welcomed the importance of discussions between entrepreneurs of both countries, which may boost the share of bilateral trade.

Keisuke Mizuno, Director General JETRO – Romania (Japonese Organisation for Foreign Trade) underlined that bilateral economic relations can be improved through communication and business partnerships.

Iulia Costin, Director General ODIMM, reiterated the business support provided by local companies in accessing foreign markets. “The Moldovan government will shortly approve a new Programme to support businesses with growth and internationalisation potential, which will be implemented by the IMMO. Local SMEs are open to new challenges and are willing to take on good practices from nipone companies. There are many opportunities and potential to be realised" said Iulia Costin.