In April 2024, the European Parliament is planning to approve a decision on extending for another 1 year the preferential regime of supplying 7 categories of agricultural products from Moldova to the EU without paying customs duties.
This was announced by the Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Moldova-EU Association, Siegfried Muresan, during a meeting in Brussels with Moldovan Economic Development and Digitalization Minister Dumitru Alaiba. He said that a decision on the extension of the liberalization of trade between Moldova and the European Union will be adopted in the European Parliament in the near future. "We will vote on this document on March 7 in the profile committee, and in April - at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Thus, the decision will enter into force in time, before the current liberalization measure expires on July 24," Siegfried Muresan said. Earlier, the European Commission said that it intends to extend for another 1 year the preferential regime of supplying 7 categories of agricultural products from Moldova to the EU without customs duties. In particular, the European Commission made an official proposal to extend for another 1 year the suspension of all customs duties on imports from Moldova. In practice, this means that exports of 7 categories of Moldovan agricultural products, which are subject to tariff quotas, will remain fully liberalized: tomatoes, garlic, table grapes, apples, cherries, plums and grape juice. They can continue to be sold on EU markets without customs duties, without tariff restrictions. The current preferential regime took effect on July 25, 2022 and expires on July 24, 2024. The European Commission's proposals will now be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The European Commission said in a statement that Moldova's exports have suffered from Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, as they often depended on transit through Ukrainian territory and the use of Ukrainian infrastructure. The EU supported Moldova's efforts to reorient its exports. As noted, Moldova's exports to the EU increased from 1.8 billion euros in 2021 to 2.6 billion euros in 2022. // 21.02.2024 – InfoMarket
