OREANDA-NEWS. November 22, 2012. Prime Minister Vlad Filat attended the launch of the project "Business Regulatory, Trade, and Investment Environment (BRITE)", the government's communication and media relations department has reported.

The project is launched with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in cooperation with the Moldovan government. The project is meant to back the Moldovan government in implementing a number of specific and measurable reforms in the most important sectors for the business community.

The director of the BRITE programme, Kelly Seibold said the project's implementation in Moldova will have a four-year length. He said the project will concentrate upon the improvement of fiscal management, optimisation of business key-processes, reducing time and costs of cross-border movement of goods, improvement of the business environment, strategic communication and the improvement of the public-private dialogue.

Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat said besides being Moldova's partner, the US government is also its friend. Filat thanked the American people for their support over the time and voiced hope that the BRITE project will be an efficient one.

"Our reformation agenda is complex and ambitious. However we cannot implement it without having a firm and sustainable economic growth. Economy is a country's engine and heart, therefore it is rather important for it to be healthy, in order to be able to pump resources necessary for the rest of the sectors," Filat said.

Filat said a state cannot force its economy to develop. However, it can and must create all the necessary conditions for the economy's development.

"Given the stances of a strongly globalised economy and the current crisis, qualities like competitiveness and attractiveness are now more important than ever," Filat said.

Filat voiced discontent with Moldova's position this year on the ranking "Doing Business", saying it is necessary to adopt a more incisive approach in order to remove barriers to business.

"Besides having to compensate the lack of progress of the last year, we must also make progress in the reforms sector that would convince businessmen all over the world to invest in Moldova. I count on your contribution to the dialogue between the Moldovan government and the business environment; a dialogue which I wish to be more efficient and deeper, in order to remove barriers to business, so that businessmen could spend more time on gaining added-value and less time on bureaucracy," Filat time.

Filat wished success in the implementation of the project, voicing the Moldovan government's full willingness.

American Ambassador to Moldova William H. Moser said Moldova has lately recorded several progresses but there are a lot of other things to do.

"The US government is further willing to back Moldova in its efforts to implement reforms," Moser said.

The ambassador voiced confidence that this project will help even more improve the investment climate and attract more businessmen to Moldova.