Moldova asks international community for support in destroying dangerous chemicals

Chisinau, 18 May /MOLDPRES/-Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici today participated in a coordination meeting of international donors, held in Comrat, administrative centre of the Gagauz autonomy. The participants in the event approached the need to speed up the destruction of pesticides stored in Moldova, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

The event was preceded by a working visit of the meeting’s participants to the central deposit of pesticides from Bugeac village, Comrat district. The officials were informed about the conditions  in which  the pesticide waste are preserved, their impact on environment, public health, food safety in Comrat district, as well as in other Moldovan settlements.

The premier, Gagauz local authorities, as well as donors reiterated the importance to as quickly as possible of destroy the pesticides stocked in Moldova. They said not only Moldovans’ health was in danger, but also the one of the residents from South-East Europe. Moldova still needs additionally  1 million euros additionally of 2.2 million euros, which form the budget of the project on destruction of 630 tons of pesticide waste stored in Moldova.   

The premier said that the destruction of pesticides and other dangerous chemicals was extremely important for environment and security of people. “I express my deep gratitude to the partners who contribute to our efforts meant to ensure destruction of dangerous chemicals from Moldova. Life and health of citizens is foremost to us. We deems as necessary speeding up actions of evacuation and fully destruction of pesticides”, he said.

The prime minister referred to the NATO-supported project, providing for evacuating and destroying pesticide waste in maximum security conditions. The waste was stored in Moldovan deposits back in the Soviet-period and its evacuation and destruction was ceased in October 2014 over lack of financial means.

Gaburici noted that annually, the government had been earmarking about 220,000 lei from the state budget since 2008 ,to ensure security of storehouses of pesticides in the country. At the same time, the support of international community is needed to cover all expenses related to the project.

In this context, the premier appealed to the donor community and development partners to back Moldova in meeting the set goal. “I am sure that this project will contribute to improving the living standards of Moldovans and will open new opportunities to strengthening security in the region”, he said.

For their part, the ambassadors of Moldova’s partner states appreciated the government’s effort in implementing the project, pointing out that it was of interest to other states from the region in terms of ecology and security. The officials expressed willingness to back the country to this end.

The project on destruction of pesticides and chemicals from Moldova is at the third stage of implementation. At the first stage, in 2003-2008, about 3,245 tons of pesticides and other dangerous substances were repackaged and stored from 424 places to 37 regional storehouses. At the second stage, in 2006-2010, a complete database of pesticides was compiled and the latter's toxicological evaluation was carried out. The third (last) stage sees evacuation and destruction, in safe conditions, of about 1,270 tons of pesticide waste, out of which 643 tons have been already repackaged, carried and destroyed in Poland. Another about 630 tons of pesticide waste are to be evacuated and destroyed.

(Editor M. Jantovan)