on the occasion of attending the 53rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu had several meetings with representatives of the business milieu, with the talks mainly aimed at the development of the energy sector in Romania, according to Agerpres.

Thus, Minister Aurescu met with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SNC-Lavalin Canadian company Ian Edwars and with the company’s Chair of the Board of Directors William Young.

The discussion focused on the Canadian company’s participation in civil nuclear area projects in Romania, especially the refurbishment of Unit 1 and the construction of Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant (CN).

Within the meeting, the Romanian minister reconfirmed the central role which the development of civil nuclear sector holds within the national strategy of energy security, especially in the current geopolitical context, which requires the intensification of efforts to increase energy independence, the projects related to Units 1, 3 and 4 of Cernavoda CN being, along with those regarding the construction of the first small modular reactors, among Romania’s major energy transition goals.

The Foreign Affairs minister and the SNC-Lavalin representatives discussed about the company’s activity as a major partner within the consortium engaged in the development of the nuclear energy complex from Cernavoda. At technological level, the Canadian company owns the CANDU technology used in the current units, but also in the new projects in progress at the Cernavoda CN. The company is also involved in the training of specialists in the civil nuclear sector, through the relevant cooperation carried out with the Romanian company SN Nuclearelectrica.

Moreover, also tackled was the necessity to boost the demarches to fund the mentioned projects.

On the same day, Minister Aurescu met, on the sidelines of the WEF Meeting, with Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, who is the CEO of Energias de Portugal SA (EDP) group and of the renewable energy division EDP Renewables (EDPR).

On this occasion, Minister Aurescu underscored the importance of increasing investments in the development of some renewable energy sources in Romania, the EDP group being an eloquent example in this regard, even more so in the context of Romania’s commitment to meet the European and international goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate neutrality.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy showed that in 2023, Romania will continue to take the necessary measures to increase energy security at national and regional level, including measures aimed at strengthening the energy mix and attracting investments in the green energy area.

Last, but not least, on Thursday evening, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, the Romanian Foreign Affair minister attended a working dinner hosted by WEF President Borge Brende and President of Global Affairs and co-head of the Office of Applied Innovation at Goldman Sachs Jared Cohen, alongside governmental leaders, representatives of the business milieu and opinion leaders (Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Jens Spahn, former German Minister of Health and member of the Bundestag, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – OECD, Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization – WTO, Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of Ireland, Alois de Liechtenstein, Crown Prince of Liechtenstein, Christopher Coons, US Senator, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Muhammed al-Jadaan, Saudi Finance Minister and others), on topics regarding the status and prospects of global affairs in the current geopolitical context.

Agerpres