Moldovan and European DCFTA negotiators discuss tariff offers for agricultural products
Negotiators on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), on behalf of the Republic of Moldova and the European Union discussed during a video conference Chisinau-Brussels, the proposals of the sides, regarding some sensitive agricultural goods and services.
According to sources in the Ministry of Economy, Moldova presented for consideration to the European partners a gradual liberalization of trade during ten years, for a string of agricultural goods, including fresh vegetables and fruit, cans, juices and some dairy products. This will allow Moldovan economic agents increase the competitiveness of their goods, meant both for the internal market and for export.
At the same time, in order to protect local producers, it has been proposed to establish tariff quotas on such foodstuffs produced in the European Union as meat and meat products, sugar and some dairy products. The volume of these quotas will be established depending on the internal output and growth forecasts, as well as on the consumption rates on the domestic market.
In their turn, representatives of the European Union proposed to annually establish the permitted export volume for some agricultural goods from the Republic of Moldova. According to the proposal, about 10 groups of products, such as meat, sugar, dairy, eggs will be exempted from the payment of customs fees, within the limits of the established volume. At the same time, the possible quotas on export will be adjusted year by year, depending on the needs of the Moldovan consumers.
As for the wine sector, the sides agreed that it would also be liberalized, in order to grant the Moldovan winemakers unrestricted access to the European Union market, without the payment of the customs fees.
Another topic discussed at the video conference was the juridical aspects of the DCFTA Agreement between Moldova and the EU, in terms of provided services, which will also be liberalized. According to the negotiators, this fact will make it possible to significantly enhance the quality of the provided services to Moldovan companies, as well as to speed up the development of some services which have not been fully implemented in the country yet.
The seventh round of the DCFTA Negotiations will be held on June 10-14 in Chisinau and will be focused on the finalization of juridical texts and proposals.
The DCFTA negotiations started in March 2012. The latest round of talks was held in Brussels on March 11-14, 2013. According to a research on the matter, the creation of this free trade area between Moldova and the EU will bring about an increase of 16% in the exports of goods from Moldova and a 5.6%-growth of the country’s GDP.
Adapted from Infotag