Chinese Government provides RMB 33.77 million grant — via July 2013 ETCA — for provision of customs inspection equipment to Chișinău International Airport and Ocnița-Sokireanî Railway Station (Linked to Record ID#66299, #66532, #52764)

Project narrative

On July 10, 2013, the Chinese Government and the Government of Moldova signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed RMB 50 million of grant funding to be allocated by the parties at a later date. The funding was to be provided through a bank account that China Development Bank would establish with the Bank of Economy of the Government of Moldova. This grant agreement was then ‘approved’ by the Moldovan Government on August 23, 2013 (via Government Decision no. 641). The Chinese Government subsequently approved an RMB 33,770,000 ($5.7 million) grant on September 26, 2017 for the acquisition of custom inspection equipment (‘scanners’) and the installation of the equipment at the Chișinău International Airport and the Ocnița-Sokireanî Railway Station/Border Crossing. These grant proceeds for this project were drawn from the July 2013 ETCA (captured in Record ID#66532) and an October 2016 ETCA (captured in Record ID#52764). Nuctech Company Limited was the contractor responsible for implementation. A signing ceremony was held for the implementation of the project on November 11, 2017. The equipment was installed at Chișinău International Airport on November 15, 2017, and it was installed at Ocnița-Sokireanî Railway Station/Border Crossing on December 8, 2018. The provision of these scanners was ultimately designed to help the Government Moldova modernize its customs inspection processes and thereby prevent the smuggling of illegal goods into the country. The Government of Moldova also drew upon the grant proceeds from the July 2013 ETCA to install similar equipment at the Leușeni-Albița border crossing point in 2015 (see Record ID#66299).