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A strategy to help Romanian industry will be included in the new government programme, which will contain, among other things, industrialisation based on licences, a state aid scheme for the steel industry but also for the production of energy equipment, Economy Minister Florin Spataru told AGERPRES on Thursday.
Asked if Romania is considering a strategy to support the industrial sector, Spataru replied, "It will certainly be included in the new government programme".
"There are some elements included, aimed at reindustrialising Romania. And here I can tell you about some of the projects: industrialisation based on licenses, with the acquisition of licenses from abroad and production in Romania under sub-license, we are talking about a state aid scheme for the steel industry, precisely in order to succeed in making this technological change, and state aid schemes for the production of energy equipment, which can lead to the energy transition, such as heat pumps, solar panels, windmills, which could be produced in Romania," he added.
The minister stressed that there are industrial economic sectors that have a much greater impact on the Gross Domestic Product than in previous years.
"Romanian industry is no longer at the level of the '89s in terms of the number of companies, but if we talk about production, production for delivery, there are industrial economic sectors that deliver incomparably much more than in previous years. We are talking about the automotive industry first of all, because, in addition to the two big car manufacturers, there are also the horizontal industries. We are talking about other economic sectors, the production of equipment, wiring, which at this time have a much greater impact on GDP than they had before '89," the minister maintained.
On another note, Florin Spataru said that the Romanian state has no plans to nationalise any of the privatised companies or to become a shareholder.
"Romania, first of all, has legislation that has been updated in this regard. Of course, depending on a strategic interest that the state might have in critical sectors, it could become shareholder again, it is true, through the Ministry of Economy or other relevant ministries, or increase its stake in those companies. We are talking about legislation and very clear criteria that lead to such a path, such a project. So far there is no project in which we say that the state wants to become a shareholder of or take over a company that had previously been privatised," the Economy minister said.
Economy Minister Florin Spataru participated on Thursday in the conference "Competition in the current economic context - ensuring the functioning of markets", organised by the competition authority.
