The report summarises the work carried out by the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme (ECP) under the authority of the OECD Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Initiative Steering Committee, in close co-operation with the Government of the Republic of Moldova and with the participation of the private sector and international organisations in Moldova.
Representatives of several Moldovan Ministries, government agencies, private sector associations, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders should be acknowledged for their active participation and their availability to exchange with the OECD team and share very valuable insights for the development of this note.
In particular, the OECD would like to extend its gratitude to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Digitalisation Dumitru Alaiba, to former Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu, to Andrei Cusca (Head of IT and Digital Economy Policies directorate), Inga Pascal (leading consultant), Diana Lungu (Communication advisor) and Diana Tutu. The Organisation is also grateful to ODA (formerly ODIMM) for their very valuable support and contributions, including to the following representatives: Dumitru Pîntea (interim Director General), Marin Ghenciu (Deputy Director), Rodica Crudu and Silvia Cangea-Digolean (Head and Deputy head of international co-operation department, respectively), and Isae Spinu (Head of SME digitalisation and IT support).
The OECD would also like to thank other representatives of the Government of the Republic of Moldova for their important contributions to the project, notably Angela Prisacaru (Main Consultant, Ministry of Education and Research), Corneliu Ciorici (National consultant and project manager at the e-Governance agency), Octavian Prodan (Technology, Information and Communications Service of the Ministry of Labour), and Vitalie Tarlev (digitalisation advisor, Economic Council to the Prime Minister).
The report, as well as working group discussions, benefitted from very insightful inputs from representatives of the private sector, notably Ana Chirita (Strategic Projects Director of the Moldovan Association of ICT Companies and Senior Project Co-ordinator at Tekwill), Natalia Bejan (CEO, StartUp Moldova), and Sergiu Rabii (Future Technologies).
A number of international experts shared valuable insights and experience that fed into the report and working group discussions, including Kaspars Nesterovs (Consultant, Public Administration Development Department, State Chancellery, Latvia), Urve Mets (Programme Co-ordinator, OSKA, Estonia), Atis Migals (EU4Digital Facility Digital Skills Stream Leader & Senior Consultant), Luca Marcolin (Economist, OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs), Marco Bianchini and Madison Lucas (Economist and Policy analyst, respectively, at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities).
The project is carried out as part of the EU4Business: From Policies to Action – Phase 2, implemented by the OECD in the Eastern Partnership, with the financial support of the European Union under its EU4Business initiative. The project was co-financed by Romania. Gerald Audaz and Jeanne Robles (team leader and programme manager, respectively, at DG NEAR, EU Commission), the EU delegation to Moldova, the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalisation of Romania and Gabriela Butu (Counsellor, Embassy of Romania to France) provided important guidance and support for this project.
This report was written under the guidance of Andreas Schaal, Director of the OECD Directorate for Global Relations and Co-operation, and William Tompson, Head of the OECD Eurasia Division.
The project was managed by Daniel Quadbeck, Senior Policy Analyst and Head of the Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Unit, and Francesco Alfonso, Economist and Deputy Head of Unit, both from the OECD Eurasia Division.
The main author of this report is Salomé Will, with support provided by Lea Banger (both OECD Eurasia Division).
The report was reviewed Anita Richter, Umur Gökçe, Ali Fuad Turgut (Acting Head of Division, Economic Advisor and Policy Analyst, respectively, in the OECD South East Europe Division), Marco Bianchini, Stefano Piano (Labour Market Economist, OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs) and Kaspars Nesterovs.
The implementation of the project was made possible by Orla Halliday, Elisa Larrakoetxea and Mariana Tanova (all three from the OECD Eurasia Division).