The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) will continue to support Moldova in modernising the agricultural sector and developing a sustainable and competitive agriculture. This is what FAO Director General, José Graziano da Silva, has discussed in New York today, during a meeting with Prime Minister, Pavel Filip.

The Prime Minister appreciated the support of FAO in mitigating the consequences of drought, floods, but also in preparing domestic producers to meet the requirements of EU market. Pavel Filip mentioned that agriculture is an important sector of the national economy, which employs around 25 per cent of the population of Moldova, and FAO is a reliable partner of the Government within development of this area. "We want to modernise agriculture, use state-of-the-art technologies and here FAO support is very important for us," said Pavel Filip.

The Prime Minister said that the winemakers in Moldova have suffered severe attempts when Russia had imposed an embargo on the export of Moldovan wines, but that decision also had positive effects. Nowadays, the quality of Moldovan wines has increased significantly and they are successfully exported to EU market. Also, Moldova has requested the increase of export quotas on the European grape and apple market, which are appreciated for their quality.

José Graziano da Silva, who visited Moldova, was impressed by the vineyards, wineries and Moldovan wines of a very high quality. The official said that Moldova was selected as a priority state for FAO assistance and would continue to receive support in the following areas: increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development.

At the end of the meeting, PM Pavel Filip invited José Graziano da Silva to visit Moldova to see the changes that have taken place in the agrarian sector.