Romania’s reindustrialization is this country’s second chance of developing economically and drawing investments, said Ionel Blanculescu, economic analyst and honorary adviser to Premier Victor Ponta said yesterday, who attended a relevant conference, adding that he would help an industrial company from Turkey to implement a EUR 56 M investment in Romania, Agerpres reports. Blanculescu also said that Romania intended to set up a sovereign investment fund, especially in the energy field, where this country planned to become a hub. On this pillar it is to draw other development axes too, especially in the industrial field. He further mentioned that next it would renegotiate the royalties paid by oil companies as the 10-year time span when they could have been changed came to an end.

The Ministry of Economy wants to carry out the industrialization strategy in collaboration with a German consultant and has already filed a request in this respect, Adrian Ciocanea, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economy, sait at the same conference, underlining that a German consultant will be very helpful to the Romanian industry during the convergence process. “A strong interlocutor is needed to help the private sector know to whom it is speaking, and we don’t have one at the moment. The way things are evolving, the Ministry of Economy will disappear, because it wouldn’t serve any purpose if there was no state industry,” Ciocanea stated, according to Mediafax. In addition, only two observations on the competitiveness strategy were offered to the Ministry of Economy in the course of one month, which is surprising given its significance to both Romanian and foreign investors, the Secretary of State pointed out. The Ministry of Economy has met two of this year’s objectives – drafting export strategies and competitiveness strategies, Ciocanea stated further.

At the same conference, Valentin Apostol, Director in the Ministry of Agriculture, stated that the price of electricity for irrigation will drop by a maximum of 30 percent next year because the National Agency for Land Improvements will act as energy provider as of 2014, purchasing energy directly from the producer, according to Mediafax. According to Apostol, the Ministry of Agriculture is seeking to improve irrigation system over a surface of 800,000 hectares. (source: nineoclock.ro)