Finance Minister, British Trade Minister discuss attracting foreign investments to Romania

Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare met on Thursday with Greg Hands, Minister of State for Trade Policy in UK's Department for International Trade, who is in Bucharest for talks with Romanian state officials and representatives of the Romanian business environment on stepping up economic cooperation and UK - Romania trade relations, the Finance Ministry said in a release. Alexandru Nazare informed the British Minister about the timeliness of attracting foreign direct investments to Romania, given its high fiscal competitiveness in the region. "Romania's development needs exceed the structural funding currently available, therefore I believe that our country can benefit from UK's experience in attracting private funds to the economy. We need to adopt a functional model to help and support Romania's economy, business environment and relations with foreign investors, "Alexandru Nazare is quoted as saying. On the other hand, the Finance Minister underlined that Romania's 2021 budget, which recently cleared Parliament, provides for a historic amount of state investments, simultaneously with the reduction of the deficit and Romania's inclusion on a sustainable fiscal adjustment trajectory. Alexandru Nazare also reiterated the call for Great Britain's support for Romania's joining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In his turn, the British Minister for Trade Policy expressed his appreciation for the very good relations between Great Britain and Romania, voicing also his openness to providing support for strengthening and expanding the trade relations between the two states. Greg Hands also presented the financial instruments made available by the United Kingdom through its export credit agency UK Export Finance - UKEF, in amount of approximately 4 billion pounds, for the financing of investment projects, insofar as they meet the eligibility criteria, the release of the Finance Ministry also states. AGERPRES (RO - author: George Coman; editor: Mariana Nica; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)