- Training of a 230 enterprises from project partners regions in topics of international trade;

- Organization of 5 BRIDGES events;

- Creation of the TRADING BRIDGES network.

For the execution of the Decision of the Balti Municipal Council No. 4/74 of 11.05.2017 "Regarding the participation of Balti municipality in the Joint Operational Programme Black Sea Basin 2014-2020", the City Hall of Balti municipality submitted, as a project partner, for the Second Call of Proposals, within the Joint Operational Programe Black Sea Basin 2014-2020, priority 1.2 “Strenght of cross-border links for trade and modernisation in the agriculture and connected sectors”, the project “BRIDGES OF TRADE/BRIDGES”, having as partners: Municipality of Nestos (Hellenic Republic), Galati Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (Romania), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Armenia and Çatalca District Governorate, Istanbul (Republic of Turkey). Following the evaluation process, the project was admitted and selected for funding.

Agriculture and the sectors connected(*) have high potential in the project partners' regions. However, one of the facts observed, is the lack of strong and permanent trade links in those sectors in the project area..

The ”BRIDGES OF TRADE/BRIDGES” project aims at bridging this gap and help producers of those sectors develop trading links with importers from the partners' regions. In parallel, the project contributes in the modernisation and the sustainability of the participating enterprises and, consequently, to the local development. Exploiting the knowledge and the experience gained by similar European projects called International Buyers' Exhibitions (IBEX) and implemented in late 90's and early 00's, the project offers a forum through which buyers and sellers of agricultural and connected products will meet in pre-arranged meetings based on their common interests. The project approach is SYSTEMATIC: the project is designed in a way that ensures sustainability and transferability. The objective is not only to help the beneficiary enterprises to start international trading activities, but also to create the conditions that will facilitate the long term and continuous extroversion and orientation of the agricultural and connected sectors to international trade.

The scheme of the project realization can be defined in the following way: Identification of the products to focus on => Recording the potential beneficiaries => Launching of open calls for participation in the project => Conference to recruit beneficiaries and selection procedure => Buyers - sellers matching and organisation of 5 meeting events ("BRIDGES" events), one in each partners' region => On-the-spot (at the end) and ex-post (4 monrths after each event) assessment => Network creation (TRADING BRIDGES NETWORK).

Joint Operational Programme Black Sea Basin 2014-2020

The overall objective of the project is to: Jointly promote and facilitate the creation of international trade links, networks and partnerships in the partners' regions, in the agricultural and connected sectors, ensuring sustainability.

-  230 enterprises trained in topics of international trade;

- ICT training tool to support the international traders-to-be enterprises in the future, developed and made available for beneficiaries;

- 5 BRIDGES events organized;

- Exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices between the partners involved in the project realized;

- TRADING BRIDGES network created.