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The Softronic company from Craiova, which produces locomotives, is the first beneficiary in Romania of the de minimis aid for increasing the competitiveness of industrial products, the financing contract being signed on Tuesday, at the company's headquarters, by its representatives and Minister of Economy Florin Spataru.
"It is the first financing contract for the state aid scheme for increasing competitiveness and I am glad that the first beneficiary of this scheme is a Romanian company with whom I discussed the possibility of development, because the transport sector is a strategic sector for Romania, and the production of locomotives and their maintenance in a company in Romania is an important goal for us. Through this state aid scheme, Softronic will be able to develop a very interesting project and I hope that in the very near future we will see locomotives with hydrogen-based propulsion, high-capacity electric locomotives to be used by Romanian companies in the Romanian railway system," said the minister of economy, Agerpres informs.
According to him, the contract has a value of 200,000 EUR and represents a first stage for the development of the competitiveness of this company through innovation projects.
"This de minimis scheme has a value of 6 million EUR. I hope that the vast majority of companies that will apply will be companies with Romanian capital. They will be able to develop their laboratories, management systems, but also purchase products or equipment that could increase their competitiveness. That is why he said that it is important for Softronic to develop its ability to access very large projects such as schemes for the manufacturing industry with a minimum value of 3 million EUR. And if you have this hall and develop this production capacity with a green component that reduces energy consumption, practically Softronic could become an important player on the market of railway products," the minister of economy also stated.
Florin Spataru said that the second call for state aid schemes for the manufacturing industry, worth 150 million EUR, will begin on February 1, now that the evaluation for the first stage has been done, in which there are 28 companies that have met the score maximum and for which the differentiation will have to be made.
The representative of the Softronic company, Ionel Ghita, stated that this company with 100% Romanian capital exports locomotives to Sweden, Austria, Hungary and, more recently, Bulgaria.
