Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca met at the Victoria Palace of Government with Alfonso Garcia Mora, International Financial Corporation Vice-President, with talks highlighting that this arm of the World Bank Group is interested in developing investments in areas related to infrastructure, energy transition, and the reduction of development gaps between regions, the government said in a release, according to Agerpres.

„According to the analyzes carried out at government level, investments played a key role in the recorded economic growth. This encourages us to continue, alongside our partners, to encourage investments, both public and private. Romania’s economic edges include energy resources, well-trained workforce and a respectful approach to investors at the level of the Executive. According to Harvard surveys, Romania ranks 19th in the world among the most complex and sophisticated economies, and we can climb to the top 10 until 2030,” the prime minister said as cited in the release.

According to the government, the European funds, which last year exceeded a record-high of 11 billion euros, together with the more than 80 billion euros available to Romania until 2029, represent an essential development resource whose beneficial impact can be enhanced by the financial instruments offered by the IFC, which has already invested over 4.7 billion dollars in Romania.

„In order to speed up the pace of investments and implicitly of economic development, the IFC representative expressed the willingness to provide the best practices and mechanisms for capitalizing on the public-private partnership, according to successful models applied in other developed countries. Also, the sides highlighted the need to provide financing to Romanian companies that need capital to expand their businesses,” the release says.

Prime Minister Ciuca also expressed Romania’s engagement in global efforts to support Ukraine following the outbreak of the Russian military aggression, including from the perspective of securing supply chains and by using the national infrastructure to facilitate the export of grain or other products.

„Along with the modernization, restoration or expansion of transport networks in this context, the sides looked at the important role of Constanta Port which has generated a concerted effort to capitalize on its potential. The IFC is interested in contributing to this effect, by accessing the global network of experts and economic actors it is connected to, by the model of the Port of Singapore,” the release states.

In order to boost the pace of attracting foreign investments to Romania, which, according to central bank estimates, could exceed the record level of 11 billion euros for last year, the Romanian Investment and Foreign Trade Agency will be integrated into the government and the IFC’s joint effort to speed up the economic development of Romania based on investments, the government also said.

Agerpres