Senate Vice President Robert Cazanciuc met on Wednesday with a World Bank delegation led by Anshula Kant, World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, and Yasser El-Gammal, the new Country Manager of the World Bank for Romania. The discussions focused on the progress and prospects of the „Neighbourhood for Justice” project, a centre dedicated to courts, prosecutor’s offices and other institutions of the judicial system in the capital, a project financed by the World Bank.

Cazanciuc assured the guest delegation that the future agreements with the World Bank will have the support of the Senate, as it has been the case so far, according to a Senate press release sent to AGERPRES.

„When I started the Neighbourhood for Justice project in 2013, I wanted the World Bank to be our partner, as we already have a successful track record together. I told my fellow judges and prosecutors that my goal is not just to solve the problem of old and overcrowded premises, but to rebuild justice based on principles, values and a modern vision that inspires people’s trust,” Cazanciuc said.

He also emphasised that the new ensemble will not be one huge palace, but a complex of buildings integrated in the neighbourhood of cultural institutions, offering a modern, open and transparent space with the latest standards of environmental sustainability. „I wish that in 2030, when we expect the project to be completed, we will have the most visionary public project, and the World Bank will be able to present it as a reference project anywhere in the world,” said the vice president of the Senate.

In her turn, Anshula Kant appreciated the values of the project that will lead to the modernisation of justice through computerisation, changing mentalities through adequate working conditions, but also to the reduction of pollution by bringing all courts together in one single complex, without the need for thousands of people to move daily between the more than 20 buildings located today throughout the capital.

The guest delegation also included Anna Akhalkatsi (Country Director for EU countries), Otilia Ciotau (lead finance officer), Ioana Irimia (senior operations officer) and Liviu Voinea (alternate executive director).

According to the quoted source, the „Neighbourhood for Justice” project, initiated in 2013 during Robert Cazanciuc’s mandate as minister of Justice, has been supported over the years by all the ministers of Justice, regardless of the political formula of government, the completion of this major project being included in the government programmes of all political parties in Romania, demonstrating the unanimous will to respond to a pressing need of the citizens and the judiciary. So far, the implementation of the project has involved the efforts of several hundred people and has led to the adoption of five laws, four government decisions and about ten memoranda. The project is now in the final authorisation phase.

AGERPRES