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Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna said today that given the German companies and municipalities' significant experience with green energy transition and smart cities, they should be a natural partner in this regard for the Romanian local authorities.
Speaking at a conference organized by the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK Romania) and the German Eastern Business Association e.V. (OA), with the support of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry e.V. (DIHK), Barna said: "The post-pandemic economy will change significantly. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) represents a great opportunity, because new economic areas will develop. (...) Germany is Romania's most important industrial partner and is ranked among the top three by overall investments, but in the field of industrial production it's the most relevant partner. The Green Deal means that Romania will have to use the PNRR funds for new industrial fields related to green energy, smart cities - where Germany has a significant experience. All this experience, this knowledge will have to be transferred to Romania, to our municipalities. And for most of them, German companies and German municipalities are and should be a natural partner."
Barna pointed out that the concrete implementation of projects under the six PNRR pillars (green transition, digital transformation, sustainable development, social cohesion, health and education) requires knowledge in the field of digitalization and public service development from a green perspective, Agerpres informs.
"There is a discussion underway within the government about this transition and its calendar, because, as in the case of railway infrastructure and highways, Romania registers significant delays. Therefore, in the energy sector where a quantum leap to pure green energy is not possible for social or technological reasons, we are planning a period of three to six years for this energy transition. (...) Just like everywhere else, mimicry works here too. When you see other companies implementing something that works, you become eager to do the same. We need a few projects to take steps ahead of the rest of the industry," Barna said.
In the digital field, he said that the priority for the next two to three years is to create a government cloud.
"There's a strange paradox in Romania. In the private sector - I dare say - Romania is one of the most relevant players in the field, with important companies, with good experience and services delivered worldwide. The public sector is lagging years behind. This is precisely the priority of the government and the PNRR, and the digital transformation is a crucial priority for the public sector. In recent years the strategy was wrong, in the sense that each public institution has tried to develop its own IT environment. They acquired their own servers, software, and at this moment the public sector is somewhat dysfunctional as regards digitization, because these softwares do not communicate with each other. The government cloud interconnecting all institutions is the main objective of the PNRR digitization pillar," said the Deputy PM.
