EU Grants: for over B 100 €

Ministry of Economy-Energy-Small and Medium Enterprises-Tourism, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry for the European Funds, The Authority for Digitalization in Romania etc.

July 1^st, Bucharest

 

With special participation of DEFENCE UNLIMITED,                                    Lucas Communications, and Dr. Lorelei Nassar, to including                        NATO experts, business community etc.

The Government in Romania has launched a project to support the development of a national economy strategy in Romania. Coinciding with the country’s Spring 2019 presidency of the Council of the European Union, the executive organized an special exclusive & dedicated agenda on circular economy policy that have morphed into a special working group on circular economy and will culminate in a draft roadmap for Romanian circular economy policy from 2020 to 2030.

With this project, which is being supported directly and actively by the Romanian government, Ministry of Economy and Energy Environment, and other national ministries in addition to more than 30 private businesses and civil society organizations, the focus is seeking to:

• flag the potential Romania has to become a leader in the circular economy in Eastern Europe
• communicate the opportunities for increased competitiveness and quality of life that a circular economy provides to Romanian citizens and businesses
• engage relevant stakeholders in thinking about how to develop a circular economy locally
• provide recommendations for the Romanian government to facilitate an efficient transition to a circular economy
• sketch an outline of Romania’s strategy for a circular economy for 2020 – 2030 that would provide a toolbox for implementation towards broader sustainable development targets.

The government began the project with a launch in Iasi, Romania in 2019, which featured a thematic workshop on „Accelerating the transition towards circular economy„, containing sector’s consultations in Romania:

• Application of the circular economy in the water sector 
• Sustainable construction for circular, intelligent and inclusive cities 
• Scaling the circular economy for managing recovered waste streams 
• Role of materials in the circular economy in the packaging, logistics and retail industry 
• Attributed of the circular economy in energy efficiency 
• Circular economy for the management of agri-food & forestry resources 
• Impact of circular economy for transport and manufacturing These were rounded off with a European conference on circular economy in Bucharest held on 11 June 2019, where EU representatives presented the state of play for circular economy throughout Europe, and IRCEM outlined what a dedicated strategy to accelerate the transition could look like, ahead of presenting next steps for this project.

With over 250 industry, civil society and government representatives having participated in and contributed to these agenda, the ministry of economy-energy and small and medium size enterprises is now collating the experts’ ideas, responses and suggestions with a view to presenting a grassroot-led circular economy strategy to the Romanian government in between 2020 – 2030.

Development Cooperation Policy

Romania became a donor of official development assistance (ODA) in 2007, after having joined the European Union. Its development cooperation policy is coordinated in relation with Romania’s foreign policy.

As mentioned in the National Strategy on the international development cooperation policy, Romania’s development cooperation policy consists in supporting people in developing countries, including low- and medium-income countries. Poverty cannot be defined simply as the lack of financial resources but also as citizens’ deprivation of food, education, health services, jobs, political involvement and infrastructure.

National objectives in the field of development cooperation 

The overall objective of Romania’s development cooperation policy is to support the partner countries’ efforts to implement their own national development strategies.

Romania signed the Millennium Declaration and endorsed the main international engagements in the field of development cooperation.

Political Coordination

The Romanian Government is the responsible in charge of managing and implementing the national development cooperation policy, financing such strategies through a separate budgetary line, in accordance with the existing legal framework.

In this context, the government aims to promote Romania’s international donor profile by financial, human and technical involvement in assisting the development to implement political, economic and social reforms.

At the Romanian Government, it is the Development Assistance Unit (UAsD) that manages development cooperation. UAsD is part of the General Directorate for Economic Diplomacy (DGDE), subordinated to the State Secretary for Global Affairs.

Romania’s priorities include investments in infrastructure, health care, education, jb creation, and small and medium enterprise development. The country’s economic growth has been one of the highest in the EU since 2010. Therefore, the World Bank presence in Romania, together with the European banks and the EU financing programs and strategies is getting stronger.

Romania’s GDP growth was strong in 2019 at 4.1 percent, driven by private consumption and an investment rebound. The labor market tightened, and unemployment reached historic lows. The situation abruptly shifted in early 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health sector, businesses, the labor market, and households.

The risk of a recession in 2020 is substantial and growing as COVID-19 brings to a halt large segments of the European economy and causes disruptions to global supply chains and trade patterns.

According to the Romania Country Economic Memorandum (2020), Romania’s income per capita increased from 26 percent of the European Union (EU)-28 average in 2000 to 63 percent in 2017, but this economic success rests on the wobbly foundations of unfavorable demographics, weak human capital, and ineffective institutions.

The political scene has also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the crisis started, the president and the prime minister were pushing for early parliamentary elections; however, due to the new situation, they will be organized at term (December 2020), and local elections, which were supposed to take place in June, have been postponed to the fall.

In this line, on July 1^st, 2020, the Government of Romania agenda consisted on special programs and strategies for accessing the EU funds, for a better leveraging of the CAEN codes, in order to optimize & improving the eligibility conditions for investment in Romania as well as to establish the conditions for the Romanian companies to receiving GRANTs from M 100 up to M 550 € for: affected companies by COVID-19 and starting production.

Programs: Star Tech Innovation ( the New Start UP), The Commerce Program, the Program of the Government for digitalization of small and medium enterprises (vouchers for the special modern IT services acquisition from EU financing programs, to developing the competitively markets of the digitized economy in Romania.)

Concerning the health care sectors, a special sustainable international support will be ensured from Dr. Nassar Clinics’ Center for Excellence ( www.drnassar.ro ) for medical advanced research | State of Art Technology |, providing on exclusive results by operating special formulas for offering global laser solutions in Romania and to its partners world-wide, such as dedicated exclusive medical packages due: for over 25 years of experience in the medical sectors, and in dentistry, especially, high class of expertise & internationally specialized doctors training in state-of the art-technologies & multidisciplinary approach, and covering all branches and so on.

Pictures and participants: Ministers and state secretaries Liviu Rogojinaru, Daniela Nicolescu, Razvan Pirjol, Dragos Preda, Radu Nicoara-Managing Director Lucas Communications, Bogdan Niculescu, Dr. Lorelei Nassar, Dr. Sorin Dobircianu-NATO expert, Irina Stefanescu-Government of Romania, Budan Constantin,  Adrian Curaj, Tiberiu Adrioaiei, Valentina Saygo, Bogdan Dragnea, Mircea Asanache-expert/the National Bank of Romania, Sterica Fundulea, Angel Gheorghe Gaidargi, Marius Buiculescu, Sabahat Kaya, Sebastian Busi etc. (D.N.).