
The French Development Agency (AFD) will provide Moldova with a 40-million-euro loan and a 1.2-million-euro grant to strengthen the forestry sector.
The parliament's press service reported this, noting that the commission for foreign policy and European integration approved the launch of negotiations to sign the relevant loan agreement. The funds are meant for the implementation of reforms in the forestry sector and its modernization, in line with all the EU normative acts, as well as Moldova's commitments undertaken within the international agreements. The loan agreement between Moldova and the French Development Agency is meant to put into practice the provisions of the memorandum of agreement on reforms in the forestry sector, which the Moldovan government and the French Development Agency signed on October 17, 2023, in Chisinau, within the Moldova Support Platform. The Memorandum of Understanding provides for a loan based on development policies in the amount of 40 million euros. The loan will be repaid in equal installments of 20 million euros: the first tranche in 2024 and the second in 2025. Moldova will have to gradually implement the roadmap, which describes 20 specific reform measures proposed under the AFD financing program. The measures were identified following the first assessment report of the Moldovan forest sector, developed with the participation of Moldsilva and its regional representatives, scientific and university institutions, and local specialists. The implementation of the 20 measures will contribute to achieving the objectives set in the National Program of Forest Expansion and Reforestation for 2023-2032 and in the Action Plan for its implementation for 2023-2027, including action No. 6 of the Moldovan Government's National Plan "Building a European Moldova". // 04.12.2023 - InfoMarket.