PM Dancila: Government's objective - funds granted for Army endowment to return to economy

The Government's objective is to see the funds granted for Army endowment returning, as much as possible, to the Romanian economy, so as to contribute to the revival of the national defence industry, through industrial cooperation and technological transfer, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila stated on Wednesday, on the occasion of the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Romaero SA Bucharest and Raytheon Company. "This year, the Government allotted important amounts to operators running on state capital to develop and upgrade their production capacities. Moreover, considering Romania's operational duties as NATO member, our country firmly committed to make a continuous effort to endow its Army and earmarked, for the third consecutive tear, 2 per cent of its GDP to Defence. This decision proves that we fully understand the strategic role played by our country in the Black Sea area, in particular, and on the South-Eastern Flank of NATO, in general. However, the Government's objective is to see these funds returning to the Romanian economy, as much as possible, to contribute to the revival of the national defence industry, through industrial cooperation and technological transfer. The signing of this memorandum of understanding and our cooperation confirm the potential of the Romanian industry in strengthening the defence capabilities in as many theaters of operations as possible. By transforming expertise and knowledge into products and services with high added value, Romania will have the possibility of exports production at global level," said Viorica Dancila. The memorandum of understanding between Romaero S.A. Bucharest and Raytheon Company to lay the grounds for the local industrial collaboration in the Patriot Programme was signed for Romania by general manager of Romaero SA. Remus Vulpescu, and for the US, by Mike D'Ambrosio, manager at Raytheon. Participating in the event were also the ministers of economy and defence, Niculae Badalau and Gabriel Les. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)