Interim PM Ciuca - meeting with US officials; agreement for Cernavoda nuclear power projects signed

Minister of Economy Virgil Popescu and US Ambassador Adrian Zuckerman signed, on Wednesday, at the Victoria Governmental Palace, in the presence of interim Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the Romania-US Intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in relation to the Cernavoda nuclear power projects and in the civil nuclear energy sector in our country. The agreement was initialed on the occasion of the visit carried out to the USA, at the beginning of October, by Minister Popescu. According to a government press release, the document was signed during a meeting that interim Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had, along with Deputy Prime Minister Raluca Turcan and Minister Popescu, with Ambassador Zuckerman, President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), Kimberly Reed, and Aleshia Duncan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Nuclear Energy Policy and Cooperation with the US Department of Energy. "The talks at Victoria Palace focused on bilateral cooperation incorporated under the Romania-US Strategic Partnership in the political, military, energy and economic fields, especially with regard to US involvement in strategic projects of major interest to Romania, including those promoted within the framework of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI)," the press release reads. The interim Prime Minister underlined the numerous positive developments registered this year in the Romanian-American bilateral cooperation, showing that the development and deepening of all dimensions of this collaboration represent objectives assumed at the highest level. Ciuca reaffirmed the President's and Government's support for the Three Seas Initiative, noting that "the implementation of the 3SI's priority interconnection projects, with US involvement and support, can provide important backing for post-pandemic economic recovery and strengthening the resilience of important domains for the country's security". "At the same time, a solid US economic presence in Romania can be a strong signal of encouragement and stimulation for other foreign investors, interested in business opportunities in our country," the government release further mentions. The interim head of the Executive stressed the importance of the priority completion of the Constanta-Gdansk railway project (Rail2Sea), a transnational project with a strategic impact on economic development, but also with implications for ensuring military mobility between the northern and southern parts of NATO's Eastern Flank. Prime Minister Ciuca also referred to the need to implement the Via Carpatia road project. According to the release, the American side reaffirmed its commitment to the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the USA, including the role of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in supporting American exports to Romania and the implementation of projects related to the Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The representative of the Department of Energy expressed, in context, her appreciation for the long partnership with Romania in this field. In his turn, Ambassador Adrian Zuckerman revealed the special character of the bilateral relationship between Romania and the USA, as well as our country's extremely important regional role, the release also shows. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Razvan-Adrian Pandea)