Press releases

The Monitoring Committee for the programme for drawing up remittances in the economy (PARE 1 + 1) approved 32 grant applications submitted by companies created by migrants or their relatives, totalling RON 7.89 million. Some 90 new jobs are expected to be created and cumulative investments in the national economy will amount to RON 19.43 million.

Analysing the results of the PARE 1 + 1 Programme, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, Iulia Costin mentioned that the “PARE 1 + 1” Programme already constitutes a successful history in the Republic of Moldova and its impact on the national economy is indisputable. “This programme contributes directly to the achievement of the Government’s social-economic policy objectives, by increasing productive investments in business activities in the Republic of Moldova stemming from remittances, supporting migrant workers returning home, as well as generalising the volume of investments in the country”, underlined Iulia Costin.

Over the years, the ‘PARE 1 + 1’ programme for the discharge of remittances in the economy has gained greater interest among migrants and their relatives, which has led to a steady increase in the number of people interested in returning home and investing remittances in the creation and development of their own businesses.

Petru Gurgurov, Acting Director-General of the Organisation for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ODIMM), mentioned that with the approval of the 32 investment projects, the budget of the “PARE 1 + 1 Programme for 2017 will be used and the expected indicators will be quantified.

The Acting Director-General also stressed that of the 32 companies approved for grant 65,6, they are in the expansion/business development phase and 34.4 % in the start-up phase. At the same time, 14 businesses are created by migrant workers, who have returned from abroad, and 18 by first-degree relatives of migrants. Statistics also show that 34.4 % of businesses are created and run by women and 56.2 % by young people.

Of the total grant applications, 21 businesses are started in agriculture and are geared towards growing cereals, vines, plum, apple and walnut plantations, and growing vegetables in

protected areas, livestock farming (cattle farms, poultry) and beekeeping, etc. 6 companies, which have been accepted for non-reimbursable funding, are active in the provision of services and another 5 in the manufacturing sector.

The analysis of the origin of remittances shows that the 32 applicants invest remittances from their work in 14 countries: Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Israel, France, Romania, Thailand, Türkiye and Hungary.

Also today, the Monitoring Committee of the Discharge Programme in the Economy “PARE 1 + 1” accepted the decision on proposals to improve the Regulation implementing the Programme. In this respect, the number of procedural acts required for the application of Component II and III of the Programme has been reduced. Under Component III, goods purchased from natural persons were added to the non-eligible costs of the Programme in order to minimise the risks related to the implementation of the investment project.

According to the results of the implementation of the “PARE 1 + 1” Programme in the period 2010-2017, there were 2254 persons, of whom 1873 persons were trained in starting and developing a business, which contributed to increasing the management skills of a company. During the seven years of implementation, access to non-reimbursable financing was facilitated for 1104 companies, amounting to RON 213.49 million. The total amount of planned investment in the economy amounts to more than RON 678.42 million.

The PARE 1 + 1 programme aims to mobilise the human and financial resources of Moldovan migrant workers in the sustainable economic development of the Republic of Moldova by stimulating the creation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises by migrant workers and remittances beneficiaries. The programme operates under the ‘1 + 1’ rule, so that each leu invested through remittances will be replaced by a leu in the form of a grant under the programme. Grant beneficiaries may be migrant workers, citizens of the Republic of Moldova and beneficiaries of remittances, first-degree relatives.

ODIMM Communication and Public Relations Department