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The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Moldova announced in early April the launch of the process of training applicants to participate in the Programme for Supporting and Developing the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Sector, in order to promote efforts on structural economic adjustments, financed from the resources of the Japan Transit I to IV Shared Grant Funds. The fund, totalling RON 15 million, is to be allocated to 15 applicants, on the basis of the decision of the Advisory Committee of the JNPGA Programme.

Applications for participation in the Programme shall concern procurements with a minimum value of RON 500.000 and a maximum value of RON 1.000.000. The programme is intended to facilitate the procurement by subjects in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector of a wide range of production equipment. We would point out that 40 % of the price of the equipment will be offered as a Grant by the Government of the Republic of Moldova, if the beneficiaries pay 60 % of the price of the equipment on the terms laid down in the leasing contract.

The equipment procured under the Programme will be offered to the lessees for a period of one year (without pledge). The leasing interest is at the rate of zero. under the Program, only New Import Equipment will be purchased, with the exclusion of indigenous equipment. The purchase and import of the Equipment will be zero-rated for value added tax, and will be exempt from customs duty and customs duty.

The submission period for the set of documents required for participation in the programme has been set for 3 weeks: 9 April 2012 – 02 may 2012. To date, applications have been submitted. Those intending to apply for financial support under this Rural Business Prosperation Programme may contact the headquarters of the Grant Implementation Unit of the Government of Japan at MD-2004, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, bd. Stefan cel Mare and Saint 180, office 812a. Detailed information on the Programme concerned, application request and eligibility criteria of applicants can be obtained via telephone numbers 022 296 718 022 238 574 or on the website: www.jnpga.md.

A clear example in this context is the pig farming business initiated by Petru Moraru near the city of Hcești. 9 years ago, Petru Moraru set out to build a pig farm with its own strengths. 2 years ago, he benefited from the support of the programme, promising high-performance machinery and building 4 stables with a capacity of 3 thousand heads.

On 18 April 2012, at the Moraru business complex in Hcești, the certificate confirming the submission of the machinery was handed over and the grant component was awarded, in order to develop the pig farming business and expand the capacity of the complex of up to five thousand pigs.

The grant certificate was delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Valeriu Lazăr, Minister of Economy and Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Moldova, residing in Kyiv, H.E. Mr Toichi SAKATA. The diplomat said that even in Japan he had not seen such a successful pig farm.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Affairs, Valeriu Lazăr, in his capacity as President of the Consultative Committee of the JNPGA Programme, stated that the philosophy of this project is to support and develop the SME sector in general and to stimulate small industrial production in particular. “Our aim is to multiply the effect of these businesses on the one hand and to increase the number of beneficiaries on the other, as the demand for applications to participate in this programme is quite high”, said the Minister of Economy.

“It is important to give more entrepreneurs a chance to participate in the programme, which is precisely why I have lowered the ceiling for applying for funding under the programme from RON 1.5 million to RON 1 million”, added Deputy Prime Minister Valeriu Lazăr.

At the moment, with financial support from the Governments of Japan (60 %) and the Republic of Moldova (40 %), Mr Moraru has 25 employees working at the complex and is a good example for all businessmen.

Valeriu Lazăr expressed her gratitude for the financial and long-lasting aid provided by the Government of Japan to representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Republic of Moldova. For his part, the Japanese Ambassador stated in this regard that they choose to provide assistance only to countries with a strong potential for economic development, seeing the funds provided to our country so far as a successful investment for the future.
since 2005, the Ministry of Economy has been successfully implementing the project to promote the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, aimed at facilitating the procurement by SMEs of a wide range of production equipment. Several economic operators in the Republic of Moldova have procured technical equipment for business development in rural areas, a project which is financed by the Government of Japan.
NOTE: The Japanese Non-Project Grant Aid (NPGA) was launched by the Government of Japan in 1987 as part of its ODA Official Development Assistance programme and is a new form of aid programme that could quickly and effectively finance the delivery of production machinery to selected developing countries. Detailed information on the Programme concerned, the application request and the eligibility criteria of the applicants, as well as the list of equipment eligible for procurement under the Programme, can be obtained at www.jnpga.md