Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in a press release that he discussed in Qatar major investments in infrastructure, energy, agriculture and other economic sectors of interest.

An important dimension of the visit of the Romanian delegation led by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to Qatar was the economic component, with investments in the Port of Constanta, Traian Vuia International Airport in Timișoara, the Comarnic-Brașov motorway and the modernisation of the Predeal-Brașov railway on the agenda.

The Romanian Prime Minister had meetings with Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, President of the Qatar Businessmen’s Association, with representatives of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, and with Qatari Industrial Manufacturing, during which common interests and cooperation possibilities were discussed.

The Romanian Prime Minister underlined that the Executive is interested in increasing Qatari investments in Romania and in closer and more dynamic bilateral sectoral cooperation in order to achieve the real potential of bilateral relations.
A concrete step, resulting from the discussions, will be the creation of a joint working group to identify concrete projects of interest to both sides, for promotion among interested investors.

They also discussed the reactivation of the Joint Economic Cooperation Commission as a suitable platform to explore options for diversifying bilateral cooperation and the organisation of a bilateral business forum.

Prime Minister Ciolacu underlined our country’s interest in increasing Qatari investments in Romania, offering major opportunities in very diversified fields.

„Romania is a regional supplier of energy security and our energy sector is undergoing a transformation process aimed at increasing its resilience, competitiveness and sustainability. It is an interesting and attractive field for businessmen involved in the ‘energy of the future’, because we want to introduce new technologies based on renewable energy, electricity storage and the implementation of highly efficient systems”, said the Romanian Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister mentioned the opportunity opened by the new natural gas exploitations in the Black Sea, as well as the expertise of Romanian specialists, factors that can facilitate the involvement of Romanian companies in oil production development programmes through advanced methods of recovering hydrocarbons from mature or hard-to-reach deposits in Qatar.

An important topic was the Port of Constanta, which offers new competitive logistical opportunities, becoming the most important EU Black Sea distribution hub for Central and Eastern Europe with the reconfiguration of logistical routes. Also in the field of infrastructure, the Prime Minister and Qatari representatives discussed investments in developing the capacity of the Traian Vuia International Airport in Timisoara, financing the construction of the Comarnic-Brașov motorway and upgrading the Predeal-Brașov railway.

As far as agriculture is concerned, the dialogue focused in particular on options to facilitate exports of Romanian products to Qatar under mutually beneficial conditions. During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the National Veterinary and Food Safety Authority of Romania and the Ministry of Municipalities of the State of Qatar on cooperation in the field of veterinary quarantine, import and export of live animals and poultry not affected by epidemics and contagious diseases.

Another topic addressed during the economic discussions was how to expand the collaboration between Romania and Qatar in the framework of the 3 Seas Initiative (3S) format, which can offer Qatar the opportunity to position itself as an important supporter of regional and global inter-connectivity and could also become one of the main beneficiaries of the numerous economic opportunities stimulated by this format (hundreds of infrastructure projects, roads, communication infrastructure, IT&C).

At the same time, the Romanian Prime Minister recalled that our country has a competitive advantage in the fields of real estate, tourism, IT and cyber security, defence industry and mineral waters, all of which offer opportunities for Qatari direct investment in the Romanian economy, leading, in time, to the development of a deeper bilateral partnership.