Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on Wednesday had a series of meetings with representatives of some of the world's largest tech companies - Apple, Amazon and IBM.
According to a press statement released by the Romanian government, also attending were Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Transformation Bogdan Ivan, and Minister of Economy Radu Oprea, agerpres reports.
"The prime minister welcomed at the Government House delegations of Apple, Amazon and IBM companies participating in the Business Forum of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) organised by the Government of Romania on September 7, 2023. The discussions focused on collaboration opportunities between Romania and the other three companies, with the aim of speeding up digital transformation of the administrative system and the digital reform of the public administration."
Ciolacu is quoted as saying that digital reform is the most important component of the administrative reform pledged by the government.
"Romania and Romanians have been waiting for modern and more efficient public services for a long time. We can respond to this natural expectation by working together with tech experts and companies," said Ciolacu.
Research Minister Bogdan Ivan said that he and Ciolacu had a series of "productive meetings" with those in the management of "tech giants" such as IBM, Amazon and Apple.
"As a minister, I can no longer look only from the position of the user; it is my duty to bring such technologies to the public administration as well. Today, we are sitting at the table with industry leaders and collaborating with them to make a real difference in the everyday life of the Romanians. We are determined to take Romania to the forefront of technological innovation, to create a favourable environment for the development of the IT&C sector in our country and to bring the public administration one click away from the citizens," said Ivan.
Discussions with Apple representatives focused on the environment, cyber-security, education and health. The delegation of the Apple company was led by Sebastien Gros, manager for European Government Affairs.
"Discussions with Apple representatives took place around the topics that the company approaches at a global level, with emphasis on the environment and cyber-security solutions. Two other key aspects of the meeting were collaboration opportunities for the digital transformation of education and innovations in the medical technology area, two of the areas considered a priority by the Government of Romania. Cloud services collaboration, infrastructure investment and advanced research projects were the subjects of discussions with Amazon representatives. The meeting of the prime minister of Romania, the minister of digital transformation and the delegation of Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS ) focused on collaboration opportunities in strategic areas for digital transformation. The transfer to the cloud of the central public administration and the development of research and innovation projects in areas such as artificial intelligence, data analysis and cyber-security were two more subjects of the discussion. At the bilateral meeting, the Amazon company was represented by a delegation led by Michael Punke, the company's vice-president for global public policies."
The government also reported that in the conversations with the representatives of the IBM company, Ciolacu and Ivan addressed the government cloud, cyber-security solutions and the establishment of advanced research and development centres focused on cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), cyber-security and cloud computing.
The IBM delegation was led by David Barnes, IBM's vice president for global workforce policy.
The meetings at the Victoria Palace took place on the sidelines of the 3SI Summit and the 3SI Business Forum in Bucharest.
Organised by the Government of Romania, under the high patronage of the President of Romania, the 3SI Business Forum takes place in Bucharest tomorrow, September 7, and brings together over 1,000 business people, top representatives of governments from around the world, experts and representatives of civil society.
The purpose of the 3SIBusiness Forum is to catalyse investment in infrastructure on the North-South axis and to reconfigure neighbourhood relations in the region, especially amidst the multiple and prolonged disruptions generated by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Three Seas Initiative (Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Adriatic Sea) is a flexible and informal political platform that brings together 12 member states of the European Union located between the three mentioned seas - Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The forum is also attended by strategic partners who support 3SI: the European Commission, Germany and the US, as well as special guests and representatives of relevant international organisations.
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