The EU-funded PARE 1+1 programme has approved 32 grant applications submitted by companies created by Moldovan migrants or their relatives for a total amount of 7.89 million lei. According to estimates, about 90 new jobs will be created, and cumulative investments in the national economy will amount to 19.43 million lei.
Analysing the results of the PARE 1+1 Programme, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, Iulia Costin described the programme a success story in the Republic of Moldova, saying its impact on the national economy was indisputable. “This Programme directly contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the government's social and economic policy by increasing the productive investment in Moldovan remittance business activities, supporting migrant home workers and generalising the volume of investment in the country.”
PARE 1+1 has over the years increased interest among expatriated Moldovan migrants and their relatives, leading to a steady increase in the number of people interested in returning home and in the use of remittances in the creation and development of businesses back home in Moldova.
Petru Gurgurov, interim director of the Organization for the Development of the Small and Medium Enterprises Sector (ODIMM), said that of the 32 enterprises approved for grants, two-thirds are in the phase of expansion/development of the business and a third in the launch phase. Fourteen of the businesses have been created by migrant workers who have returned from abroad. Statistical data also indicates that 34.4% of the businesses are created and administered by women and that 56.2% involve young people.
The businesses are in agriculture, services and manufacturing.
An analysis of the origin of remittances reveals that the 32 applicants have invested remittances from work carried out in 14 countries: Italy, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Israel, France, Romania, Thailand, Turkey and Hungary.
PARE 1+1 is a programme financed by the European Union, designed to attract migrant remittances back into the local economy. According to the funding formula, each Moldovan leu invested by the migrant is supplemented with another leu in the form of a grant provided by the state.