Prime Minister Ciuca meets South-Korean counterpart Han Duck-soo, discusses economic cooperation

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca on Wednesday had a meeting, in Seoul, with his South Korean counterpart, Han Duck-soo, in the context of the Romanian PM's visit to the Republic of Korea, where he is accompanied by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, and both a governmental and a parliamentary delegation, an important component of the discussions being economic cooperation, in the context in which the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries exceeded one billion dollars in 2021.According to a press release of the Government, the head of the Executive appreciated this encouraging signal and emphasized the development potential of the bilateral economic component."The strengthening of our bilateral cooperation is all the more significant considering the geopolitical and economic context marked by multiple challenges, but also by important opportunities. It is necessary to provide a new impulse to achieve the objectives of our Strategic Partnership, the only one that Romania has with a Asian country. We hope to celebrate 15 years of cooperation within the Strategic Partnership next year through the visit to Romania of my South Korean counterpart, Mr. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, and through new projects that will relaunch our political, economic and sectoral cooperation," said the Prime Minister of Romania, quoted in the press release.We support the growth of greenfield investments and we are very interested in strengthening cooperation in the fields of green energy, digital technologies, as well as the links between SMEs in our countries, added the Romanian Prime Minister."We are open to analyzing the possibilities of a tripartite cooperation Romania-Republic of Korea-USA in the field of nuclear energy and we encourage the participation of South Korean investors in projects such as that of small modular reactors (SMR) and in the investments at Cernavoda," said Ciuca.The head of the Executive also pointed out the fact that Romania offers a diversified range of investment opportunities, being one of the most dynamic and competitive economies of the European Union, despite the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war near our borders, with the growth rate of the Romanian economy, in 2022, remaining above expectations.Also, Prime Minister Ciuca thanked his counterpart for the support provided by the Republic of Korea to Romania's candidacy to the OECD and mentioned that Romania will continue to count on this support.The two high officials had an exchange of views on bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, defence, as well as on the management of the situation generated by Russian aggression in Ukraine, security in the region, cooperation between NATO and the Republic of Korea, on all relevant dimensions, it is stated in the same press release.Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca is currently paying an official visit to the Republic of Korea, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, the Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, Sebastian Burduja, the Minister of Economy, Florin Spataru, the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, and the head of S.N. Nuclearelectrica S.A., Cosmin Ghita.