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Premier Sorin Grindeanu was received by French counterpart Edouard Philippe at Hôtel de Matignon in Paris
Romanian Premier Sorin Grindeanu was received on Thursday morning by his French counterpart Edouard Philippe at the latter's official residence at Hôtel de Matignon.
Sorin Grindeanu was greeted by Edouard Philippe on the steps of the building in a ceremony also attended by members of the French Republican Guard.
This is Edouard Philippe's first meeting with a counterpart since his taking office at the helm of the French government.The two heads of government were to discuss the Romanian-French strategic partnership, beefing up economic cooperation between Romania and France, as well as the future of the European Union in the context of Brexit.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will pay a visit to Romania in the near future, stated Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Thursday in Paris.
"I have invited the French Prime Minister to come to Romania. We share common political experiences, if I can call them so. He also comes from the local administration. In the near future, he will pay a visit to Romania in order to strengthen and reinforce the Romanian-French relations," stated Grindeanu at the Romanian Embassy in Paris, at the end of his working visit to France.
According to Grindeanu, this was Edouard Philippe's first meeting with a counterpart since taking the office as the head of the French Executive.
"My visit was the first he received from a counterpart, today. The purpose of this visit is to strengthen the strategic partnership we have with France. We discussed all the points and all the important files (.. .), namely how we can contribute together to the strengthening of the common European project and this is one of our goals, especially in view of the fact that we have requested (...) and we will get help with the Romania's organization and future presidency at the European Council in 2019," Grindeanu said.
The two prime ministers also discussed about intensifying the economic relations.
"Trade between Romania and France, (...) at the level of 2016, amounted to about 8 billion euro, 10 pct more than in 2015. So there is an upward trend. There is still room for improving and building up the level of these economic exchanges and just to name a few areas, such as infrastructure, energy, agriculture, digital economy. (...) We agreed to have joint inter-ministerial working groups between the Romanian Government and the French Government precisely to reinforce this strategic partnership," Grindeanu said.
The Premier mentioned that he thanked Philippe for France's support to Romania for achieving the goal of becoming a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In this context, the head of the Bucharest Government specified that "an important step" was made on Wednesday through the accession of Romania to the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency.
"If the accession to NATO has brought us, Romania, security, joining the European Union has brought us prosperity and economic growth, joining the OECD (...) will bring us respectability," Grindeanu stressed.
He mentioned that he has also discussed with his French counterpart important issues for Romania, such as joining the Schengen Area and the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, but also about the common European defence policy.
"There are files in work (...) and we have harmonized our views," Grindeanu said, also referring to the "excellent common cultural exchanges" between Romania and France.
The delegation accompanying Prime Minister Grindeanu to the meeting with the French Prime Minister includes Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu and Romanian Ambassador to France Luca Niculescu.
Prime Minister Grindeanu's working visit to Paris started on Wednesday, when the head of the government attended the ceremony dedicated to Romania and Argentina's joining the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Economic Development (OECD). OECD Secretary General Jose Angel Gurría, NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, Romanian Minister of Public Finances Viorel Stefan and Romanian Ambassador to France Luca Niculescu also attended this event.
At the ceremony, Grindeanu said that he is very pleased to accept on Romania's behalf the invitation for the country to become the 33rd member of the Nuclear Energy Agency. The Prime Minister also said that Romania is fully prepared to start negotiations to join the OECD, based on its merits and economic results. According to him, Romania's accession to the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) represents "a relevant step forward" for our country's nuclear sector."Becoming a member of the Nuclear Energy Agency is a step forward for Romania's nuclear sector, as this will secure access to the best practices, statistics and research and will provide a consistent input for the Government's nuclear power decisions. It will also make us more resilient to asymmetrical challenges we are currently facing in the energy and climate domains," affirmed Grindeanu.
On Wednesday evening the Romanian head of government had a meeting with OECD Secretary-General Jose Angel Gurría.