Romanian-Moldovan trade advances 8.37pct in Q1 2021, to 573m US dollars

Total trade between Romania's and Moldova was 573 million US dollars in Q1 2021, up 8.37%, y-o-y, Romania's ambassador to Moldova Daniel Ionita said on Thursday, mentioning that "there are signs of a gradual return to normalcy."

"Bilateral trade between Romania and Moldova grew dramatically over the last ten years, among other things, thanks to Romanian investment that has grown. Thus, the level of trade doubled in five year, from 1 billion US dollars in 2014, to 1.95 billion US dollars in 2020, with a peak of 2.2 billion US dollarsin 2019, the year before the pandemic," Ionita told a business conference called "Republic of Moldova - a destination for Romanian investment."

Ionita added that, as of March 31, 2021, the total volume of Romania's trade with Moldova was 573 million US dollars, of which exports were 381.5 million US dollars and imports of 191.5 million US dollars, 189.97 US million favouring Romania.

"Compared with the same period of 2020, total trade increased by 8.37% overall, which to us are signs of encouragement, signs of a gradual return to normalcy," said Ionita.

According to him, most of the imports of Romanian products in Moldova are represented by petroleum products, followed by medicines, cars, wires and electric cables. Other imports include copper wire, insecticide, electrical appliances, "all of which are indispensable inputs to production processes in the Republic of Moldova, and on which the competitiveness of domestic producers depends directly, including on the European Union market."

"But what is Romania's investment position in the Republic of Moldova? I can tell you that Romanian investment is found in most business areas in the Republic of Moldova: in production, trade, finance and banking, technology, services, environmental protection, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Romania ranks first by the number of companies with fully or partially registered Romanian capital - 1,653 and also first in terms of the value of the subscribed Romanian capital - 245 million US dollars. The banking sector dominates this investment figure, with a value of about 78 million US dollars," said the Romanian ambassador to Moldova.

At the same time, according to statistics, as many as 6,371 companies running on Moldovan capital are registered in Romania, with a total subscription equivalent to 59 million US dollars, added Ionita. Thus, Moldova ranks 35th among countries investing in companies in Romania running on foreign capital.

The business conference "Republic of Moldova - a destination for Romanian investment" was organised online by the National Union of Romanian Employers (UNPR) and the Association of Romanian Investors in Moldova (AIR) with the Romanian Embassy in Moldova.