site.btaAgriculture Minister: Bulgaria Has Great Potential for Cooperation with Moldova in Science, Practice

Bulgaria has a great potential for cooperation with Moldova both in science and in practice, outgoing Agriculture and Food Minister Kiril Vatev told journalists on Thursday after a meeting with Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vladimir Bolea, who is on a two-day visit to the country at Vatev's invitation.

"We have found that we have absolutely the same problems and the conversation from now on will continue in the direction of how best to cooperate so that we can solve the identical problems in our countries", Vatev said. He added that Moldova has the same problems of depopulation of villages, migration of young people abroad, overproduction of grain, shortage of fruit, vegetables, meat and milk. 

Bolea recalled that this was his second meeting with the Bulgarian Minister after the one in Berlin in January. "We, as an institution, want to give an example to the producers themselves how to take the first step, what are the benefits of cooperating and we hope they will cooperate too," the Moldovan Minister said.

He stressed that there is a large Bulgarian community in Moldova – 70,000 people, and there were three ethnic Bulgarians in leading positions in the Moldovan Government.

The ministers also discussed the impact of Ukrainian imports.

Bolea explained that before the war in Ukraine Moldova exported cereals to 30 countries, mostly through Ukraine's Black Sea ports. Currently, Moldovan farmers do not have access to these ports and therefore exports have been reduced to 11 countries. The largest consumer and buyer of Moldovan cereals is Romania, which has overtaken Turkiye.

He pointed out that on October 4 last year Moldova adopted a licence for imports from Ukraine, following the European model. "We introduced it as an instrument to stabilize the selling prices in Moldova," he said, adding that in 2023 Ukraine produced 28 million tons of wheat, while Moldova produced over 1 million, so imports from Ukraine are driving Moldovan producers into bankruptcy.