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M Ciuca voices Romania's openness to analysing, continuing , strengthening Korean presence in nuclear power.
Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday that in his conversation with his South Korean counterpart Han Duck-Soo he expressed Romania's openness to analysing, continuing and strengthening the Korean presence in the field of nuclear power, told Agerpres.
"I reiterated my support for increasing South Korean green field investment projects. I want to express my hope that we will see new South Korean investment projects in Romania also as a result of high-level talks. We discussed the possibility of investing in the fields of green energy, digital technologies, in the field of the food industry, as well as strengthening ties among SMEs. We expressed our openness to analysing, continuing and strengthening the Korean presence in the field of nuclear power, encouraging South Korean investment in Romanian projects in this particularly important sector in all of our efforts to strengthen energy security and independence. Mr Prime Minister has already agreed on collaboration for the opening of the new reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the involvement of South Korean companies in the development of small modular reactors," Ciuca said after a meeting with his South Korean counterpart at the Romanian Government House.
Ciuca also invited the business community of Korea to join the Business Forum of the Three Seas Initiative, which will take place in September in Bucharest.
He recalled his visit to Seoul and Busan last December. He added that this year marks the 15th anniversary of a strategic partnership between Romania and Korea.
"Based on the meeting in Seoul and the agreement on the areas of collaboration, we agreed that these can be considered as new elements of the road map for the continuation and development of the strategic partnership between Romania and Korea. I agreed with my counterpart on the need for systematic consolidation of bilateral collaboration. (...) We emphasised the need to restart and strengthen bilateral co-operation under new concrete projects in all areas of the partnership, both politically and economically. We agreed that the business component should represent the main element of the development of bilateral relations."
Ciuca added that discussions also covered the current security context.
"I mentioned Romania's geo-strategic position, the fact that it is one of the most dynamic and competitive economies in the European Union, which offers wide resources and investment opportunities. I agreed with the prime minister on how the business sectors of the two countries should continue their dialogue and collaboration in such a way as to identify the potential and opportunities for doing business in the two countries."
Ciuca welcomed the continuation of a trend of increased commercial exchanges, showing that since 2021 it has exceeded one billion dollars, with an 8% increase in 2022.
"I emphasised that this trend should be further incentivised, supported with new initiatives in innovative fields of high added value. I reconfirmed Romania's interest in organising this year in Seoul the 20th meeting of the joint industrial co-operation committee at a ministerial level. We are also interested in organising a bilateral business forum related to the ministerial event to ensure the coherence of co-operation efforts in the public and private sectors."
The discussions also covered other important areas for the intensification of co-operation between the two countries, such as defence, including the defence industry, cyber-security, education, culture, and technical and scientific co-operation.
A memorandum of understanding between Romania's National Sea Port Administration Corporation and the Busan Port Authority was signed as part of the Han-Ciuca meeting.
