February 17 (SeeNews) - Moldova's president Maia Sandu said on Wednesday she signed a decree formalising the negotiations on a 15 million euro ($18.2 million) financing agreement with the European Commission intended to help the country tackle the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The agreement is for a donation of 15 million euro to help overcome the health and economic crisis. We signed this decree to make it possible to provide funding for Moldova in the context of the lack of a government with full-scale responsibilities. We will carefully monitor the allocation of these funds," Sandu said in a statement.
The agreement is part of the EU's response to Covid-19 under the Team Europe initiative and was reached following Sandu's official visit to Brussels last month, according to the statement.
On Monday, Moldova extended the state of healthcare emergency by two months, until April 15, in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus disease. Moldova has been in a state of healthcare emergency since May 15, 2020.
Moldova has not yet started a vaccination campaign and is expecting the first vaccine doses under COVAX initiative to arrive in late February, according to most recent data from the health ministry. COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the World Health Organization and by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
On December 31, Sandu named foreign affairs and European integration minister Aurel Ciocoi interim prime minister following the resignation of Ion Chicu who stepped down on December 23 in a move aimed to trigger early parliamentary elections.
Moldova, a country with a population of 3.5 million, has registered 171,514 coronavirus cases and 3,678 associated deaths as of Wednesday, according to official data. A total of 158,619 people have recovered, whereas 15,176 people are in self-isolation and are being monitored.
In November, the European Commission approved the disbursement of 50 million euro in macro-financial assistance to Moldova to help the country limit the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The financing came entirely from the EU's 3 billion euro emergency micro-financial assistance package.
($= 0.8288 euro)