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In Chisinau, entrepreneurial training courses for the heads of the economic directorates of the district councils, organised by the Ministry of Economy, started with the technical and logistical support of the EU-funded project called “Technical Assistance for Sectorial Budget Support – Economic Stimulation in Rural Areas (ESRA)”.

As a result of this work, those responsible for economic issues in the district councils will gain knowledge of the concepts and specificities of the activities of SMEs, what are the expectations of the economic operators active in the sector and how they, as a local public authority, can help them solve problems that may arise in the course of their activities. The training topics will include, among others: characteristics of an entrepreneur, establishment of contacts with an entrepreneur, promotion and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), measures and key steps in advising SMEs, support in the business financing cycle, monitoring and evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of local economic development programmes and projects.

The course is supported by international project experts as well as local trainers from the Ministry of Economy (MoE) and the SME Development Organisation (ODIMM) of the Republic of Moldova. During 2012, no less than 4 such trainings are planned, where around 75 employees of the Economic Directorates of the District Councils will be trained in the promotion of: rural economic development, entrepreneurship promotion and business support.

Present at the event, the Head of the Policy Directorate for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and the Liberal Professions, Valentina Veveriță welcomed the participants in the treasure, reiterating the position of the Ministry of Economy with a view to strengthening the system of partnership with the economic directorates and services of the District Councils. Referring to the usefulness of these training courses, Valentina Veveriță pointed out that the knowledge gained by the civil servants of the local authorities would help them to come up with appropriate solutions to remove barriers to the business process of SMEs in the regions of the Republic of Moldova, especially in rural areas.

The project team leader Philip Santens, in his opening speech, referred to the importance of economic development in rural areas in the Republic of Moldova in general and of SMEs in particular, noting that they play an important role in the sustainable development of the economy. In support of this idea, Philip Santens mentioned that in the European Union 92 % of all businesses in rural areas are SMEs and 85 % of all jobs are provided by SMEs.

The training courses will be organised on 27-30 March for representatives of the economic directorates and services of the district councils of the northern and central region of the Republic of Moldova and on 3-6 April for representatives of the economic directorates and services of the district councils of the southern region of the country.
We would point out that, according to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, currently in the Republic of Moldova, small and medium-sized enterprises account for 97.6 % of all businesses in the country, provide 57.3 % of jobs in the economy and 37.1 % of turnover.

Note: The technical assistance project of the European Union called “Technical Assistance for Sectoral Budget Support – Economic Stimulation in Rural Areas (ESRA)” is a recently launched project (15 March 2012). The objectives of the former project included developing better policies at country and sector level, increasing business activities in rural areas, improving public finance management systems. The project budget is EUR 2.5 million and the implementation period is 24 months from 20 December 2011. The main beneficiaries are the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova.