The economic and security dimensions of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America are a solid foundation for facing current challenges, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said Tuesday at a forum organized by AmCham Romania.
"The message I want to convey in this business forum is: we invest together, we build together. The economic and security dimensions of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America are a solid foundation for facing the current challenges. Together, shoulder to shoulder, we can strengthen the Eastern Flank of the European Union and the North Atlantic Organization and we will discourage threats in a consolidated defense posture," Nicolae Ciuca said.
He stressed that in recent years, Romania has made remarkable economic progress, and resilience during the pandemic has been a challenge for all.
"As an immediate priority, the Government's solutions to respond to the energy crisis are aimed both at protecting the citizens and at ensuring the necessary conditions for the economic sectors to carry out their activity in conditions of efficiency and competitiveness. We are constantly evaluating the effects of implementing these measures and we are considering, in the perspective of April 1st, new legislative solutions adapted to the situation caused by the energy crisis," Ciuca said.
The government is committed, said he, to accelerating structural reforms and efficiently investing national and European funds.
"Romania is a safe business destination, competitive and oriented towards modernization and development (...). Whether we are talking about digitization and energy, health and infrastructure, education and the environment, we have the perspective of a sustainable development, focused on modernizing the country and increasing the quality of people's lives. We need to work together, the private sector and the administration, two important pillars to ensure the success of this ambitious plan. The implementation of the investment projects will be accompanied by the reforms assumed through the PNRR [the National Recovery and Resilience Plan]: the fiscal reform of the state-owned companies, the reforms in the fields of education, health and pensions, the decarbonisation policy and the support for the development of energy from renewable sources. We are concerned about the timely completion of the public procurement procedures for large investments, given the very tight timetable for the implementation of this Plan," Ciuca said.
According to him, the government will encourage the opening of IT&C services from the public sector to the private sector, by organizing public-private partnerships, technology transfer and know-how to and from competent and competitive companies, reusing components and promoting open-source technologies.
"Through the Ministry of Economy, projects will be launched with a 500 million euro PNRR financing scheme for the microelectronics industry. Romania is well positioned to become an effective contributor in this ambitious programme, given the tradition in the field, continued in several centers of excellence, as well as the fact that significant industrial investments of great European interest, such as the automotive industry, are already being hosted," the prime minister said.
He also said that the energy sector, with a focus on energy produced from renewable sources with low carbon emissions, the refurbishment and modernization of energy networks and investments in energy storage capacities, represents an important opportunity.
"The investments programmed through the PNRR and the Modernization Fund are able to radically transform Romania's energy infrastructure, as well as the energy mix, offering financing opportunities of over 16 billion euros by 2030," Ciuca said.
According to him, for Romania, the development of the transport infrastructure represents a medium and long-term strategic objective, which is reflected in the Investment Programme for the development of the transport infrastructure for the period 2021-2030, which aims to recover the deficit of basic infrastructure at national level on all areas of transport, but especially in the road transport sector.
The Prime Minister said that the Government understands the importance of legislative stability and predictability, transparency and dialogue and has highlighted the fact that advantageous fiscal policies, granting state aid or tax facilities, high-skilled labour force are elements that make Romania a preferred destination of investors.
An additional guarantee meant to strengthen the confidence of the business environment in the Romanian economy, he said, is the opening of negotiations for accession to the OECD.
In view of the above, the Prime Minister said that, for Romania, the US investors represent a strategic milestone.
"We count on the desire of your companies to be part of the success Romania can know through its sustainable anchoring in the community of consolidated democracies. The message with which I would like to end my intervention is this: have confidence in Romania, in the opportunities and competitive advantages our economy offers. Come to develop together future projects in digitization, clean energy and environment, infrastructure, advanced technologies," Prime minister Ciuca said.