On Friday, January 18, 2019, the second meeting of the Steering Committee took place at the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Development headquarters, within the "South Gate of Moldova open for business and investment promotion" project.

The topics included in the agenda were the presentation of the activities and the results obtained in the project implementation during October - December 2018, as well as the planned activities for the first quarter of 2019. It was mentioned that the project activities are mostly implemented in term. The equipment was procured and the furniture for 4 pre-incubation facilities/entrepreneurial libraries in business incubators in Cimișlia, Leova, Cahul and Ștefan Vodă, as well as for 4 information offices for entrepreneurs from the Basarabeasca, Cantemir, Căușeni and Taraclia districts is in manufacturing process. The necessary information was gathered from the Regional Councils of the Development Region South (RDS) and 80 investment offers - basis of the Investment Catalog and the Investment Portal of the Development Region South have been developed.

The Ist quarter of the 2019 year will be richer in events. There will be 8 public events presenting the Investment Profiles for the 8 RDS districts. A public event for presenting the created pre-incubation spaces will be organized. 48 business consultancy service providers for SMEs from the region will be trained.

Present at the event were the heads of the partner institutions involved in the implementation of the project: Mr. Iovu Bivol - the president of the Cimișlia District Council, Mrs Maria Culeşov, the director of the Regional Development Agency South and Mr. Petru Gurgurov, the interim director of the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Development. The Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova was represented by Mrs Iva Stamenova, project manager. Mr Lilian Danilov and Mrs Diana Nastas were present as representatives of the Secretariat of the "Mayors for Economic Growth" Initiative in Moldova.

The "South Gate of Moldova open for business and investment promotion" project, aims to contribute to the development of a competitive business environment in the South Region by strengthening the capacities of the business support providers as well as increasing the demand from SME-s. The project also aims at increasing institutional capacity in promoting investment in the region.

The "South Gate of Moldova Open for Business and Investment Promotion" project is funded by the European Union within the "Mayors for Economic Growth" initiative and implemented by the Cimișlia District Council in partnership with the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Development and the RDA South.