The Romanian Official Development Assistance in the Republic

The Romanian Official Development Assistance in the Republic of Moldova Doina Doroftei, Head of Unit for Development Assistance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania Chisinau, 31 October 2013

The Romanian ODA Programme Ø Thematic priorities: Ø Transition to democracy; Ø Agriculture and sustainable economic development; Ø Environmental protection and sustainable energy; Ø Education and health; Cross-cutting themes: gender and climate change. Ø Geographic priorities: Ø Wider Black Sea Region (the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) Ø Wider Middle East and North Africa (Egipt, Tunisia, Libya, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq) Ø Romania’s national ODA budget: Ø 2012 total: Approximately 113 mil EUR Ø 2011 total : Approximately 118 mil EUR

The Romania – Republic of Moldova Partnership Strategic Framework Ø The Joint Declaration Creating the Strategic Partnership for the European Integration of the Republic of Moldova (April 2010) Ø The Action Plan (March 2012); Ø Cooperation areas: European integration, political and institutional cooperation, economic cooperation, cultural, educational, youth and sport cooperation; Ø The Bilateral Agreement on the Implementation of the Technical and Financial Assistance Programme on the Basis of a 100 million EUR Grant awarded by Romania to the Republic of Moldova (April 2010) Ø Cooperation domains: transport infrastructure, education, energy, emergency humanitarian assistance, environment

The Romania – Republic of Moldova Partnership. Strategic Framework Ø The Intergovernmental Agreement on Development Assistance (signed August 2013) Ø Aligning development assistance to the Development Strategy of the Republic of Moldova; Ø Coordinating through annual meetings. Ø The Republic of Moldova – the main beneficiary country of the Romanian Official Development Assistance Programme Ø Continuous priority of the Romanian ODA policy; Ø Majority of Romanian Institutions reporting bilateral ODA projects (joint activities with the Republic of Moldova)

The Development Assistance granted to the Asistenţa acordată de România în R- Moldova Republic of Moldova The main 10 countries receiving Romanian development assistance in 2012 (RON) 2012 – 61, 2 mil RON 57% of the total bilateral ODA budget 2011 – 54, 4 mil RON 64% of the total bilateral ODA budget

The Development Assistance R. Moldova Asistenţa acordată de România în granted to the Republic of Moldova by financing institutions Ø Development Ministry (100 mil. EUR grant, execution underway): Ø Transport infrastructure, education, energy, emergency humanitarian assistance. Ø 8 M Euro disbursed in 2010 (humanitarian assistance) Ø 9 M Euro made available in 2013 (energy interconnections). Ø Education Ministry : Ø Scholarships; Ø University cooperation programs (university extensions, mobility programmes knowledge exchanges); Ø Cooperation in the field of research. Ø The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ODA specific budget); Ø the Department for the Relations with Romanians Abroad; Ø Other ministries (annual cooperation programmes or ad-hoc request – based cooperation activities);

Educational programmes, Programul educaţional 2012 main receiving countries (RON)

100 million EUR Bilateral Grant Agreement for technical and financial assistance signed by Romania Programul educaţional and the Republic of Moldova in April 2010 The initial agreement provided the basis for grants in two sectors: transport infrastructure and education institutions Has been partially implemented - the implementing regulation underway Amended successively to add sectors: humanitarian assistance; energy and lastly environment. As main points implemented so far: - 8 M Euro - humanitarian assistance in 2010; - 9 M Euro – energy interconnections, including the Ungheni-Iasi gas pipeline (in addition to the European cofinancing)

Programul AOD al MAE The ODA Programme of the Romanian Ministry of -proiecte. Foreign Affairs. Ø Budget disbursed for R of Moldova (2007 -2013) - 4, 5 mil EUR Ø Starting from 2011, 30% of the MFA’s specific ODA budget goes to the Republic of Moldova Ø Now: 22 projects under implementation – 3, 3 mil. EUR Ø Main objective: Support for European integration Thematic areas: agriculture, health, modernization of local public services, internal affairs, research and innovation, support for civil society.

The ODA Programme of AOD al MAE Ministry of Programul the Romanian Foreign Affairs. -proiecte. By theme: 1. Agriculture – marketing (150. 000 Euro) and phytosanitary field (600. 000 Euro, since 2010). Ex: Equipping a laboratory for determining pesticides in plants, soil and products of vegetal origin in Chisinau The project was implemented by the National Sanitary, Veterinary and Foods Safety Authority in Romania and the Ministry of Agriculture and foods Industry in the Republic of Moldova (possible co-financer Israel). RO contribution in 2012: 300, 000 Euro. 2. Justice and Internal Affairs: technical assistance, equipment (approx 400. 000 Euro) 3. Civil society : objective - building partnerships (approx 300. 000 Euro) - regional projects, through NGO Forums and Platforms/general and sectorial (Child protection) - NGOs collaborations in specific areas (public policies, anti-discrimination, integrity, ) - NGO Mobility Fund

The ODA Programme of theal MAE Programul AOD Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Projects -proiecte 4. Peace and security: Confidence-building measures between Chisinau and Tiraspol 2010 -2013 - 280. 000 euro through the Council of Europe. Also, in 2013, an additional contribution of 30. 000 euro through UNDP. 5. New instruments for transfer of expertise –The NGO mobility fund (2012) –The Governmental experts mobility fund (2013) – priority areas.

Perspectives/Conclusions (1) Romania’s approach to the development of R of Moldova is multi-dimensional and multi-sectorial, involving a large set of actors and stakeholders (central and local institutions, civil society, media) Romania’s enagement for the development of R of Moldova is nationally assumed and predictable (multi-annual) Ø Long term priority areas: JHA, energy and agriculture, regional development (European integration) Romania’s ODA Effectiveness in R of Moldova Ø demand driven and partnership based, Ø contributions to other donor’s programmes (SIDA, Gi. Z, USAID) multi-donor programmes (UNDP, Co. E, UNFPA, etc), Ø donor coordination

Perspectives/Conclusions (2) Main challenges of the Romanian ODA national programme : Ø limited resources and implementation capacity (monitoring and evaluation) Ø coordination at national level (some efforts achieved – Joint Commission for European integration, since 2012) Main objectives for 2014 Ø reforming the legislation for the ODA national programme, including the strategic framework, Ø Improving the inter-institutional ccordination through a more clear mechanism Ø Improving project management (especially, monitoring and evaluation) Ø Improving public communication of results.

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