Government: PM Orban voices in Munich interest in expanding economic cooperation with Germany

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban had a series of meetings with representatives of the business environment at the Munich Security Conference, voicing in context the interest for strengthening and expanding economic cooperation with Germany, informs a press release published by the Government on Saturday. According to the quoted source, the Romanian prime minister participated on Friday in a meeting with the representatives of the Romanian-German and German-Romanian Forums - the first joint meeting of the two cooperation formats. Attending the informal meeting were the president of the Romanian-German Forum, Prof Andrei Plesu PhD, and the Chairman of the German-Romanian Forum, Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the German Parliament (Bundestag), Gunther Krichbaum, Bernd Fabritius, Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities, together with other prominent members of the executive and legislature, the business environment and civil society in the two countries. "Prime Minister Ludovic Orban emphasized the special, strategic nature of the evolving bilateral cooperation, and appreciated the activity of the two Forums, which contributed in a substantial way to strengthening the relationship between the two states. At the same time, he highlighted the bridge role of the German minority in Romania and of the Romanian community in Germany, important catalysts in the dynamic of the relationship between the two countries," mentions the Government statement. Also on Friday, Prime Minister Orban met with the Senior Vice President for Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer at Google, Kent Walker, and presented to the latter the benefits of the investment and business environment in Romania, as well as the measures taken by the government he leads. The prime minister addressed to the Google vice president the invitation to consider establishing a company presence in our country. On Saturday, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban met with representatives of the leadership of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations (Ostausschuss der deutschen Wirtschaft), an association of German companies representing these countries' interests in Central, South-East Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus. "The Romanian prime minister voiced interest in strengthening and expanding bilateral economic cooperation, with Germany being Romania's first trading partner, with which it conducts more than a fifth of the volume of foreign trade, and the third investor in the Romanian economy. Prime Minister Ludovic Orban expressed appreciations for the presence of over 23,000 German companies in Romania, which created over 300,000 jobs, and presented Romania's benefits as a destination for German investments, as well as the measures to improve the legislative and financial framework, in order to attract long-term, quality German investments. It was also agreed to organise, in the following period, events of economic promotion in the two countries," the press release reports. Prime Minister Ludovic Orban also met with General James Jones, honorary chairman of the reputed Atlantic Council American think-tank and at the same time president of Jones Group International. The discussion focused on ways to further strengthen and stimulate the US companies' investment presence in our country. Prime Minister Orban also welcomed, in context, the announcement made on the morning of February 15 by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, regarding the decision of the US administration to finance with 1 billion US dollars some energy projects promoted under the Three Seas Initiative, the Government release also highlights. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Marius Fratila; EN - author/editor: Simona Iacob)

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