Romania, Google sign MoU for digital infrastructure cooperation

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on Monday welcomed at the Government House Google executives and participated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Romanian government and the company as Romania is developing digital research and innovation infrastructure.Signing the document on behalf of Romania was Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Transformation Bogdan Ivan."We have ambitious projects for public administration reform that involve the use of modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, improving operational efficiency, increasing digital security, promoting innovation in the public sector and adopting the cloud. We are advancing in terms of the digital transformation of public services, we are in the home stretch as far as modernising the tax system for fraud detection and increasing collection is concerned, and every day shows us how important it is to increase cyber resilience. We have also undertaken the operationalisation of the government cloud. Google's expertise and contribution are essential to putting into practice high-performance and safe public services for Romanians," Ciolacu is quoted as saying in a press statement released by the government.Ciolacu added that Romania is an attractive market for investors in the field of information technology, both through the opportunity of major projects in data centres and cloud services, as well as due to highly trained specialists and advanced legislation.Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, talked about the importance of meeting with Romanian officials to discuss speeding up digital transformation for public services in Romania and the opportunities for implementing artificial intelligence.Google Cloud is dedicated to contributing to increasing the adoption of cloud technologies and facilitating innovative digital public services, in line with Romania's digital transformation goals and the European Digital Decade targets for 2030.At the same time, the Google executives reaffirmed their support to contribute to increasing cyber resilience of government structures by exchanging best practices, strengthening basic and advanced digital skills and adopting cloud computing technologies.This collaboration is designed to use modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, improve operational efficiency, improve citizens' experiences, increase the government's digital security and promote innovation in the public sector.