On June 10, AmCham Moldova and AmCham Romania business communities met online to strengthen the business ties between the members of the associations, network, and share best practices.

The first meeting in the series of events - Business Bridges - was dedicated to Digital Transformation issues and opportunities for business communities from both countries. All participants were encouraged to join one of three sessions, as follows:

1. B2G breakout session, moderated by AmCham Tax Committee Chair - Iuri Cicibaba, and AmCham Romania Digital Economy Committee Co-Chair - Alina Orban, focused, among other topics, on Personal Cabinet of the Taxpayer, Electronic Sales Register, Electronic Employee Register, Fiscal Gateway, e-Invoice, SAF-T, and cash registers.

• B2B and digitization of internal processes breakout session, moderated by AmCham Board Member – Alexandru Gozun, and AmCham Romania Digital Economy Committee Deputy Chair - Margareta Chesaru, discussed among other topics, on the use of the qualified and non-qualified electronic signatures; digitalization of other business processes, such as financial management, HR management, customer relations, and others.
• B2C breakout session, moderated by AmCham Digital Transformation Committee Chair - Sergiu Stoianov, and AmCham Romania Digital Economy Committee Co-Chair -Dorin Pena, focused, among other topics, on e-commerce challenges, such as electronic payments, consumer protection, e-KYC, and others.

Main takeaways from the sessions are:

1. COVID-19 has significantly boosted the most digitalization of the processes on both banks of the Prut river. Still, some concerns regarding to "back to the old normal" are in the air. Some solutions that seem natural and necessary should be preserved and remain valid after the pandemic (such as virtual general assembly, for example);
2. The use of qualified and unqualified electronic signatures in internal management procedures remains to be an issue for both communities;
3. The model of interaction between taxpayers and tax administration in the Republic of Moldova impressed the Romanian business community, however Romanian digitalization progresses at an accelerated pace due to the pandemic;
4. Digital education of the population and the public servants to make people more comfortable with technologies and get used to it is a" must."
5. The customer experience becomes a priority for both business communities. Four main directions should be considered here: (a) enhancing capacity to get clients (including availability of e-KYC for this purpose); (b) setting the relationship with the customer (the activation); (c) enlarging the spectrum of products and services used by the customer; and (d) maintaining the customer.