People from the North, Centre and South of Moldova will benefit from improved roads, better access to water and sanitation, and improved business opportunities and tourism services,as a result of UK Government support to the Moldovan Government's policy on regionaldevelopment, the British Ambassador to Moldova, Keith Shannon, announced today. Promoting pro-poor sustainable growth and improving governance and the institutional environment for poverty reduction are key areas of focus for the work of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) in Moldova. Since 2008 DFID has supported successive Governments' new policies on regional development, aimed at promoting economic growth and reducing poverty and inequality throughout Moldova. This support to regional development is vitally important in a country where 70% of the poor reside in rural areas.
The UK will contribute up to £1.5 million (approximately Euros 1.75million) to the Moldova National Fund for Regional Development to support projects under the first call for regional development project proposals launched in May 2010 by the country's three new Regional Development Agencies. Selected projects will cover areas of high importance for the development of poor communities, such as the rehabilitation of physical infrastructure; support to economic and private sector business development; and improvement of the environment and tourism potential.
The budget support will complement DFID's programme of technical cooperation in the area of regional development, implemented jointly with the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). The programme of around £2.9 million (approximately Euros 3.4 million) was launched in May 2008 with the aim of providing assistance to the Government of Moldova for the creation of a regional development institutional framework similar to that in many EU countries. Since then Regional Development Councils and Agencies have been established in the three priority regions outlined in the Law on regional development (North, Centre and South), locally-owned regional development strategies had been elaborated and priorities in each of the regions have been identified. At the same time, a comprehensive and transparent monitoring and evaluation system has been developed by the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development with support from the programme The programme also supports the establishment of the National Fund for Regional Development that will become an efficient mechanism for financing regional development throughout the country by both the Government of Moldova and international organisations. The DFID/SIDA programme will continue its support to the Government of Moldova in the implementation of regional development policy up to February 2011.
DFID is closing its bilateral programme in Moldova in March 2011. But the UK's role in supporting the Moldovan people does not end with DFID's graduation. In the coming years, the UK will continue to support Moldova in its goal of joining the EU through funds managed by the British Embassy, the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank.
