Romania should become a regional platform for large French companies and not only, not just a market, according to interim Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare.

He welcomed at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance French ambassador to Romania Nicolas Warnery.

'France is one of Romania's most important partners in the EU, a strategic ally and one of the main investors in our economy. There is already a strong French presence in industry, energy, infrastructure, financial services, retail and technology. But the potential is much greater. We need a new stage of economic cooperation: more capital invested in Romania, large industrial projects, local production, technology transfer and well-paid jobs. Romania must become a regional platform for large French companies and not only, not just a market,' Nazare wrote in a social media post.

He added that the recovery package developed at the Ministry of Finance provides for over EUR 2.5 billion by 2032 for productive investments, technologies, capitalisation, exports and the preparation of large projects, which will generate a structural change of the Romanian economy.

'It is a systemic approach through which Romania supports large investments according to their multiplier effect: private capital attracted, local production, exports, support for Romanian producers and suppliers and the potential to generate new jobs. The next step is to use these instruments todraw new projects, including from France, and to expand the investments already present in Romania.'

Nazare and the French ambassador also discussed the development of the capital market, the Union of Economies and Investments, France's support for Romania's accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the exchanges of experience between tax administrations.

'French expertise can also be useful in areas such as transfer pricing, tax simplification and modernisation of the administration. At the same time, we discussed concretely cooperation in the defence industry and the opportunities created through SAFE, including for the development of production in Romania. I suggested to ambassador Warnery to transform the excellent economic dialogue between Romania and France into more investments, industrial projects and technology transfer. We have all the premises to build together projects with long-term impact, which will bring development and opportunities to the citizens of both countries,' Nazare said. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)

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