Senior officer for Politics within the Directorate for Eastern Europe, South-East and South Caucasus of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Daniel McCormack paid a visit in the period March 29th, March 30th to the North Development Region.

On Wednesday, March 29th, in the second half of the day, the BMZ representative Daniel McCormack was informed about North Regional Development Agency(RDA)'s regional development projects conducted in North Development Region of the Republic of Moldova with the support of GIZ and financial resources provided by Germany.

During his visit to North RDA, the German official was accompanied by Ulrich Kleppmann, First Secretary and chief of Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Embassy in Moldova. Therewith, the delegation consisted of the Country Manager Agency of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) in Moldova and manager of the project "Modernization of Local Government Services in Moldova" (MSPL), Philipp Johannsen, and managers of the MSPL project.

The development, challenges and potential of the regional development in the North Region were discussed during the meeting at North RDA. Another mentioned topic was focused on cooperation of North RDA with MSPL project, second phase; the project will be implemented with the support of GIZ in the next four years. In this context, participants at the discussions mentioned that MSPL project, second phase, aims to improve local services in villages and towns of Moldova by promoting regional development policy.

"One of our most important tasks is to contribute to the regional development of the Republic of Moldova and MSPL project managed by GIZ contributes to this aim. North RDA is a very important partner in this project. One of the main objectives of our technical collaboration is namely strengthening the potential at regional level. Thank you very much for the cooperation we had in the past. In the context of the EU allocation of significant financial resources for regional development projects in Moldova, including in Balti, we want to continue working with you", said the BMZ representative Daniel McCormack.

"We are indeed at a new stage of cooperation involving preparing the projects to be financed by money provided by the EU. The stage of pilot projects that we implemented during the last years, was a very important step for gaining experience, a training for the projects financed from European funds which we are to implement. I am convinced that our joint efforts will bring good results for a long period", said North RDA Director, Ion Bodrug.

Please note that the implementation of the first phase of the project MSPL was granted approximately 23.9 million Euros for the effective implementation of regional development policy, supported by the Governments of Germany, Sweden and Romania. During six years, the Government of Germany through MSPL project, supported regional development in Moldova, so that pilot projects were conducted through joint efforts and they helped improving the living conditions of citizens in the regions of Moldova.

The German representative Daniel McCormack and GIZ representatives will perform on Thursday, March 30th, several visits to the North Development Region. They will visit Costesti, Râșcani district, where the project "Improvement of water and sanitation in Râșcani district" is implemented, being financed by the German Government through GIZ project managed by MSPL.

Today, in the first half of the day, the MSPL project representatives and North RDA specialists have gathered at a meeting to review and agree on the content of the MSPL project Operational Plan, second phase, for the year 2017.