NATO Support Agency to Continue Supporting Republic of Moldova in the Evacuation and Disposal of Pesticides

Chisinau, November 20, 2013 — Minister of Defense, Vitalie Marinuta, discussed today with the NATO Support Agency experts the implementation of the project on the disposal and evacuation of 1269 tons of pesticides from 18 districts of the country.

Claude Peffer, logistics expert, NATO Support Agency, appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Defense in the prompt and qualitative implementation of the project in Taraclia district, where from 170 tons of pesticides have been evacuated. He said that his institution will keep supporting Republic of Moldova to evacuate the pesticides until June 2014.

“The National Armys’ specialized group activities of evacuation and disposal of 170 tons of pesticides in Taraclia, in common with the local authorities, Veolia company (United Kingdom) and SARPI Dabrowa Gornicza company (Poland) demonstrated one more time that the Ministry of Defense is a reliable partner”, the NATO official specified.

Vitalie Marinuta thanked NATO Support Agency’s experts for the logistics and technique assistance support in the improvement of the environmental factors and prevention of health risks. “I am sure that, till the middle of the next year, we will succeed to reach our pesticides and dangerous chemicals disposal goal, through a common effort with our partners. In this way, we will make citizens’ life better”, the Minister of Defense noted.

The cost of the NATO/PfP Project on the disposal of pesticides and dangerous chemicals in the Republic of Moldova is estimated at 2,2 million euros, including 325 million euros allocated by the Government of Republic of Moldova and the rest of the money issued by Romania, Norway, Czech Republic, Ireland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Belgium, Finland, Estonia, Luxembourg.

At the same time, an operational group of the National Army started the evacuation of 50 tons of pesticides from Sadaclia, Basarabeasca district.