PM Dancila, Greek counterpart Tsipras agree on developing action plan for Romanian-Greek priorities

At a Romanian-Greek intergovernmental meeting at the Romanian Government House in Bucharest on Friday, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and her Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras agreed on an action plan reflecting the priorities of the Romanian-Greek bilateral agenda that establishes a clear long-term co-operation strategy between the two countries in all areas. "I had a consistent and extremely useful meeting today with my Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, followed by a first Romanian-Greek intergovernmental meeting, an exercise that we hope will become constant and provide the guidelines needed to define pragmatic, consistent and concrete coordinates for the bilateral dialogue. We agreed to provide a new dimension to our bilateral relationships and decided to jointly develop an action plan that reflects the priorities of the Romanian-Greek bilateral agenda and establishes a clear long-term co-operation strategy between our two countries in all areas. The development and diversification of our bilateral relationships is favoured by positive premises such as traditional relations between our countries, spiritual affinities, common history and similar approaches of many regional and European themes," Dancila told a join news conference with Tsipras at the Romanian Government House on Friday. She added that another element of connection is provided by the two communities, of Romanians working, living and studying in Greece and of the Greeks in Romania. "We have an opportunity to boost the bilateral dialogue, starting from the inter-human, traditional and historical relations that bind us," Dancila said. She congratulated her Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, and the Greek Government on Greece exiting from financial assistance programmes "with a stronger economy after implementing fiscal and structural reforms." She also mentioned that Romania stood in solidarity with Greece during the economic crisis and during the migration crisis, same as the two countries were together in the key moments of their history, overcoming difficulties and obstacles together. "We met today with the Greek partners to analyse developments in strategic areas such as transport and energy security and to identify new opportunities in areas with a direct impact on economic development such as trade, agriculture, tourism, culture and education (...) As far as transport is concerned, we discussed co-operation in major road and rail interconnection projects and we highlighted the importance of these projects for the integrated economic development of our countries. We welcomed the fact that Romania and Greece share a common goal as far as energy is concerned and a shared attention attached to those initiatives and projects capable of increasing energy security in our region by diversifying gas supply sources and routes," Dancila said. She mentioned the importance of the BRUA Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria interconnection project in this context. "We are continuing to advance with the BRUA corridor, the first diversification project in southern Europe that has the potential to offer a new route and sources of gas natural to a number of European countries that are in a major dependence on a single external supplier," said Dancila. She also mentioned that a closer co-operation framework was agreed upon for the promotion of start-up companies in the field of information technology and creative industries on the regional markets, as well as the setting up and participation of Romanian innovative companies in regional clusters to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experience and to increase their competitiveness. "We are glad that over one million Romanian tourists visit Greece every year, as the preferred holiday destination for Romanians and that the interest of Greek tourists in Romania is growing," Dancila said. She also mentioned the themes addressed in the cultural field. "I talked with my friend Alexis about a very important cultural project and we decided to develop collaborative projects between Timisoara and Elefsina, both of which will be European capitals of culture in 2021. I would also like to emphasise that the dialogue on culture and education is excellent and we want to further capitalise on the important potential that exists in the area of cultural exchanges and co-operation between universities," said Dancila. In the same context, she briefed Tsipras on the results so far achieved by the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, showing that in the first three months of the term of office Romania managed approximately 900 events and meetings. "Our efforts have resulted in substantial outcomes in negotiations over active legislative files, so we have succeeded in finalising negotiations over 86 legislative files, many of which have already been confirmed by the Council. I also had a very useful exchange of ideas with Prime Minister Tsipras about the future of Europe," the Romanian PM added. Dancila thanked Tsipras for Greece's support to Romania's bid for OECD membership. On Friday afternoon, a new Romania-Bulgaria-Greece-Serbia four-side meeting is scheduled to take place at Snagov Palace. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)