President Iohannis: I draw the Government's attention not to sacrifice our economic future

President Klaus Iohannis on Monday sent a message to the participants in the "Innovation Labs 2019 - Demo Day" event, in which he drew the Government's attention "not to sacrifice the economic future" of Romania and also made an appeal to the young to get involved in politics. "Romania has everything that it needs to become a regional innovation hub. By some 6 per cent of the GDP, the domestic digital sector is a major driver of economic performance and innovation, recognized as such even beyond our borders. The Romanian digital products are competitive in Europe and the United States of America. The Romanian IT companies saw important economic growth in the past decade. Start-ups doubled in number and activity in this field grew substantially every year. All these bring us joy, but we must capitalize on this at national level. And in order for this to happen, the business milieu needs to benefit from credibility and trust. Unfortunately, the Romanian business environment only received hasty and hazardous measures, without consultation and without a minimum substantiation, the wrong messages were sent to the foreign investors and a lack of respect was shown for the Romanian entrepreneurship in general," explained Iohannis, in his message presented by presidential adviser Cosmin Marinescu, at the event held in Bucharest. According to the head of the state, the low level of digitization of the economy and public administration shows that things must change rapidly. "The Government did nothing in this respect, which is why we are ranked last in Europe, including as a gap in terms of access to the digital world between the rural and urban areas. I firmly draw the Government's attention not to sacrifice our economic future by only offering statistical illusions to people, which will prove to be in vain in the following years, of the same manner in which Romania felt the cancellation of its economic growth during the crisis years," underscored Iohannis. He added that there are a lot of things that still need to be done in digital competence. The head of the state also said he believed that the young can contribute to Romania's change to the better, by getting involved in the public debates on ideas and solutions. "Either when we think about economy, society or rule of law, it's important that you have your word in what your elected decide. Which is why you need to get involved. I know that you care about the future of Romania and I assure you that I will be by your side! On this occasion, I also want to challenge you, to give you something to think about, or even, if you want, to propose you a partnership: democracy in the digital era and the manner in which the relation between the state and the citizen works. And what I mean by this is that they are the essential aspects such as exercising of the right to vote, protecting the integrity of the electoral process from populism and cyber threats and also solutions to make the citizens' and experts' involvement in substantiating public policy more efficient," said Iohannis. According to him "cultivating values in the society, respect for the law, economic and political freedom are vital aspects for our country's evolution to a better phase." In his opinion, digital revolution represents a huge opportunity. "We cannot afford, in Romania and the European Union, to remain behind in the global competition. (...) I am sure that by promoting the young entrepreneurs and their innovative solutions, especially those in digital economy, is the key to our economy becoming competitive," underscored the President. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)