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Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu met Japanese official and economic delegation at Victoria Palace
Developing cooperation with Japan will remain a fixture of Romania's foreign policy, regardless of the political formula of the Bucharest government, Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu said on Tuesday at the Victoria Palace.
"Taking relations with Japan to a deeper level is a priority of the governing program's foreign policy component that we want to promote in a manner as efficient as possible. After 1990, developing cooperation with Japan has been a major fixture of Romania's foreign policy and will stay like this regardless of the political formula of the Bucharest government," Stanescu said at a meeting with the visiting Japanese official and economic delegation headed by Kotaro Nogami, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary.
According to Stanescu, the most important bilateral cooperation project is currently the construction of the M6 metro mainline that will link the center of Bucharest to the 'Henri Coanda' Airport.
"We hope to advance as much as possible in the course of 2018. We are looking forward with great interest to receiving the opinion of Japan International Cooperation Agency on the tender documentation so that we be able to effectively start the bidding procedure in February and sign the execution contracts in October," Stanescu said.
He also referred to the 430-million euro contract (VAT excluded) for the design and execution of the "Suspension bridge across the Danube in the Braila area" which was signed on Monday at the premises of the Ministry of Transport by the representatives of the National Road Infrastructure Administration Corporation (CNAIR) and those of the contractor - the association Astaldi SpA (Italy) - IHI Infrastructure Systems Co.Ltd. (Japan) in the presence of now-outgoing Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.
"We hope that the goal of strengthening the economic presence of Japan in Romania will get a boost from (...) another relevant infrastructure project - the bridge across the Danube in the Braila area - the most complex infrastructure work in the last 27 years," Stanescu said.
The Deputy PM went on to say that he is convinced this Tuesday's talks will lead to "intensifying and expanding bilateral cooperation" in areas of common interest, mentioning that over 70 Japanese companies are already present in Romania, where they have created almost 40,000 jobs.
In his turn, Kotaro Nogami said that he is accompanied by 17 top Japanese companies from various fields.
The Japanese companies take a high interest in Romania because of its powerful automotive industry and for having achieved the most remarkable economic growth in recent years of all European countries, he said.
The Romanian delegation present at the talks at the Victoria Palace of Government included Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu, Economy Minister Gheorghe Simon, Minister for Business environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship Ilan Laufer, and Georgian Pop - head of the Romania - Japan friendship group.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu on Tuesday stated that the visit of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Romania is a historic one, while also mentioning that Prime Minister Mihai Tudose's resignation made impossible, in terms of protocol, a meeting at government level.
"The Japanese PM's visit in Romania is a historic one, the single visit of a Japanese Prime Minister in the past 100 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Romania and Japan. This visit was very carefully prepared with its main objective being precisely to identify the best modalities of development of political, economic relations between Romania and Japan. The resignation of PM Tudose made impossible, from a protocol point of view, a meeting at government level, for it is normal that, when it comes to diplomatic talks, the heads of delegations to be of the same level," explained Melescanu.
He had a meeting with the Japanese delegation during which they discussed economic issues and also a breakfast with the businessmen.
"From a protocol point of view, the level of representation of both sides needs to be observed. I had a discussion with the Japanese delegation and they understood very well what is happening and they even said that such tempestuous changes of governments are also happening in other countries," said Melescanu.