Mrs. Liesl Muench is working for the EU-financed project “EU Support to the Private Sector in the Context of Association Agreements and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (AA/DCFTA)” preparing an institutional survey to assess the support needs for SMEs (in Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine).
The aim of the project is to design an EU support package targeting the private sector to accompany the process of implementation of the AAs/DCFTAs in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
In the framework of this project, Mrs. Muench is doing assessment of SME support programs to find out about the existing opportunities and on the 29th of the October, 2014 met with The National Association of The Private ICT Companies (ATIC) and, companies-members and colleagues of the ATIC, for discussing the current ICT Association projects/services in Moldova addressing the on-going or potential future support in view of the implementation of the AA/DCFTA.
The companies and their representatives, present at the meeting were: Star Net – Caraman Ecaterina, IBM Romania – Victor Ciobanu, SWITCHOVER – Ivan Ceccaroni, Trimetrica – Eugen Hristev, FBS Group – Ianioglo Serghei, QSystems – Aydov Andrei.
During this meeting, the main subject was: “Are the Moldavian ICT companies ready for the AAs/DCFTA?” and was deeply discussed the present situation of the Moldavian Private Sector SMEs, as well as the problems or constraints like bureaucracy, politization by some political parties, a too big and sometimes unfair competition, which companies face. Some of the companies are treated completely different by the EU’s government and its private sector, and face problems when trying to extend their business abroad.
Also, the representatives of the companies discussed with Mrs. Muench the implementation of the International Accounting Standards, Legal Technical Requirements, about their degree of awareness to the DCFTA, and the business opportunities in the Republic of Moldova which is being in transition yet.