MACRO stands for „Moldova: Assessing Country Risks and Opportunities”. The conference has been conceived as an annual event bringing together domestic and international policy experts and thinkers with the key purpose of discussing and advancing innovative ideas to support Moldova along its way of economic development and modernization. The annual Conference offers a high-level intellectual platform to dissect the factors influencing Moldova’s attractiveness as destination for international investments, new ideas and advanced technologies, to assess the country’s risks that need to be alleviated to make Moldova a better place for the capital and the labour and to identify the opportunities to harness in order to foster Moldova’s economic development and competitiveness.

The goal of the 8th edition of MACRO Annual International Conference is discussing solutions to foster the economic and social resilience to crises, in the context of COVID-19, as a key precondition for a sustainable development of the country. Also, the event will seek to raise awareness among policy makers, experts and donor community on the importance of having in place well-functioning response and mitigation measures to such crises as COVID-19 (and not only). The conference will be composed of two interconnected panels. The first panel will discuss the issue of economic resiliency to crises and the second panel will focus on the social resiliency to crises. Also, at the MACRO 2020 conference will be presented the findings of the „State of the Country Report 2020”.

The MACRO 2020 International Conference will take place online, on the 20th of October 2020, between 9:30 and 14:45 (Chisinau time). The event will be attended by political leaders, policy makers, representatives of local governments and the private sector, local and foreign experts, representatives of CSOs and academia in Moldova.

Agenda

09:00Registration, coffee and networking
09:30Opening speeches
Juliana SCHULTE, Representative of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Romania and Republic of Moldova
09:40Keynote address
Ion CHICU, Prime-Minister of Republic of Moldova
09:50Presentation of the key findings of State of the Country Report 2020
Adrian LUPUȘOR, Executive Director of the Independent Think-Tank „Expert-Grup”
10:00PANEL 1: Economic resiliency to crises: building a more competitive and robust economy after COVID-19

Moderator: Victoria DUMBRAVĂ, Journalist, Editor in chief Agora.md
Presentation:
Dumitru PÎNTEA, Economist, Independent Think-Tank „Expert-Grup”
Speakers:
Sergiu RAILEAN, Minister of Economy and Infrastructure of Republic of Moldova
The macroeconomic forecast of Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure for 2020-2021
How did COVID-19 shape the Moldovan economy? What are the expectations for the near future?
Iulia COSTIN, CEO of the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development
What are the most vulnerable sectors and companies in the context of COVID-19?
Alexandru GOZUN, Head of the PricewaterhouseCoopers office in Moldova
What actions should be taken to reduce the impact of COVID-19 recession and to increase the resiliency of the private sector?
Ion STURZA, Chairman of the "Fribourg Capital" Fund, member of the Board of Directors of the Independent Think-Tank "Expert-Grup"
What lessons can be learned from COVID-19 crisis? What could be done differently in order to minimize the economic costs of the crisis?
Marcel Spatari, Director of Syndex Romania.
How can the national economy be restructured in order to make it more resilient to future crises?
12:00Buffet lunch and networking
12:30PANEL 2: Social resiliency to crises: building more inclusive and effective social systems after COVID-19

Moderator: Diana RĂILEANU, Journalist, Radio Free Europe Moldova
Prezentation:
Valeriu PROHNIȚCHI, Program director, „Expert-Grup” Independnet Think-Tank
Speakers:
Viorica DUMBRĂVEANU, Minister of Health, Labour and Social Protection of Republic of Moldova
What are the social implications of COVID-19? What to expect in the near future?
What are the main vulnerable groups impacted by COVID-19?
Vitalie SPRÎNCEANĂ, Sociologist, blogger, journalist, coeditor Platzforma.md
How effective were the policy responses to counteract the social implications of COVID-19?
What lessons can be learned from COVID-19 crisis? What could be done differently in order to minimize the social costs of the crisis?
Liliana PALIHOVICI, Expert in social policies, president of the "Institutum Virtutes Civilis" Association
How can the system of social assistance be restructured in order to make it more resilient to future crises?
Valentina BARCA, Expert Oxford Policy Management (OPM) (tbc)
International models of ensuring resiliency of social protection systems to crises.
14:30Key conclusions of the event
Adrian LUPUȘOR, Executive Director of the Independent Think-Tank „Expert-Grup”
Ana MIHAILOV, Head of Office, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Moldova
14:45Coffee and networking

Speakers

Victoria DUMBRAVĂ
Journalist, editor in chief, Agora.md
Dumitru PÎNTEA
Program Director "Business Environment and SMEs", Independent Think-Tank "Expert-Grup"
Sergiu RĂILEAN
Minister of Economy and Infrastructure
Iulia COSTIN
CEO of the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development
Alexandru GOZUN
Head of the Pricewaterhouse Coopers office in Moldova
Ion STURZA
Chairman of the "Fribourg Capital" Fund, member of the Board of Directors of the Independent Think-Tank "Expert-Grup"
Marcel SPATARI
Director of Syndex Romania
Diana RĂILEANU
Journalist at Radio Free Europe Moldova
Valeriu PROHNIȚCHI
Program director "Research and methodology", Independent Think Tank "Expert-Grup"
Viorica DUMBRĂVEANU
Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Moldova
Vitalie SPRÂNCEANĂ
Sociologist, blogger, journalist, co-editor Platzforma.md
Liliana PALIHOVICI
Expert in social policies, president of the "Institutum Virtutes Civilis" Association
Valentina BARCA
Freelance Consultant, Social Protection