PM Dancila:France - key partner to Romania, our Strategic Partnership has strong perspective for the future

Throughout history, France has been a key partner to Romania, we have a Strategic Partnership with a strong perspective for the future, that creates the premises for a more structured and more ambitious cooperation, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Friday at the official reception organised in celebration of July 14 - the National Day of France. "Our countries are linked by a profound friendship that manifested itself in key moments of our common history. Today we share a dynamic relationship, we are partners in the European Union and NATO, and we have a Strategic Partnership with perspective for the future that creates the premises for a more structured and more ambitious cooperation. I assure you of Romania's full commitment to advancing and deepening the Romanian-French cooperation both bilaterally and at European level, as I also told Premier Edouard Philippe on the occasion of our recent talk. We agreed on continuing a constant and direct dialogue and I hope we will be able to meet soon in order to agree on and sign the updated Strategic Partnership Roadmap, which will mark a new stage of our bilateral and European cooperation," said Viorica Dancila. The Prime Minister added that the current context, marked by an unprecedented cultural and public diplomacy program, is particularly favorable to the Romania - France relations and mentioned in this respect the Romania - France Season, which debuted with the celebration on December 1 2018 of the Greater Union Centennial and ends now, with the National Day of France, but also with the first Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. "The Romania - France Season had a special symbolic dimension, as the first such event that France organized with an EU member state. This was the result of the common will to rediscover each other through culture, to better understand the communion between the Romanians and the French, the depth and diversity of this unique relationship," Dancila said. The PM added that the Romania - France Season has also generated extremely useful economic contacts and opportunities for the business environment of the two countries. "Bilateral economic cooperation is an essential tier in the success of our relationship. In the past few years we have witnessed a continuous increase in trade exchanges that exceeded last year the record-high line of 9 billion euro. France is today the fifth most important investor in Romania, with 3,000 enterprises that create more than 120,000 jobs. This is proof of the fact that the business environment in our country is propitious and favorable to new investments that benefit from the effect of government initiatives," premier Dancila underscored. The head of the Bucharest government pointed out that the French - Romanian relationship is also based on strong decentralized cooperation links, which favor direct contacts between local communities in the two countries and which have recently reflected in the organization in Lyon of the Decentralized Cooperation Forum. Viorica Dancila emphasized that France has been at Romania's side during its term at the helm of the Council of the EU. "The challenges the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU had to meet were far from few, but we believe that the results are equally matching. Through their constructive cooperation the French partners have been at our side during this term. We further rely on a tight cooperation with France in developing the European project in a spirit of unity, solidarity and fairness, with the goal of a Union closer to the citizens. I am convinced that only together will we be able to overcome the challenges and strengthen the European Union. In the end, I make a call for convergence and solidarity Europe today needs more than ever, and I am convinced that the privileged relationship between our countries can serve as a pivot for tomorrow's Europe! Many happy returns, la France!," the Premier said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)