Transportation Minister signs Cooperation Protocol and Plan of Action with Turkey

  Transportation Minister Sorin Grindeanu, attending in Istanbul the 27th session of the Romania - Turkey Joint Economic Cooperation Commission, signed on Thursday together with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay a Cooperation Protocol and a Plan of Action."In their turn, representatives of our governments signed dozens of concrete projects that are part of this plan and cover several areas. The projects, with well-defined implementation deadlines, aim to promote mutual trade, bolster investments, strengthen cooperation in key economic sectors - including at regional level, develop SME cooperation, boost tourism and the exchange of experience in various fields," Grindeanu wrote on Facebook.He added that half-yearly milestone checks will be performed to look at developments and the observance of the deadlines, through meetings at the level of Secretaries of State."I am confident that through these projects we will reach the USD 10 billion annual threshold we have set ourselves for bilateral trade. We will assess developments and deadline observance every six months through meetings of Secretaries of State. We have agreed that the next meeting of the Joint Economic Commission shall take place in Romania," Grindeanu said.  According to him, in the field of economic and sectoral cooperation, Turkey is the second largest trading partner outside the European Union and the first destination for Romanian exports outside the EU, with trade reaching approximately 10 billion dollars."I also stressed the major importance of the recent decisions taken at last week's EU Summit on the phasing out energy dependence on Russia. In this context, we pointed out that Romania has already proposed the use of the BRUA gas pipeline and the Giurgiu-Ruse Interconnector (between Romania and Bulgaria) and the Bulgaria-Greece Interconnector for the future stages of the development of the Southern Gas Corridor. We are counting on Turkey's openness and support for promoting this option at the regional level," the Transport Minister said.   The Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, also discussed with his Turkish counterpart, Adil Karaismailoglu, about the opportunities that the collaboration between Romania and Turkey in the field of infrastructure can offer."I am attending today [Thursday] in Istanbul the 27th Meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Romania-Turkey Economic Cooperation. This morning I met with the Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailoglu, with whom I discussed about the opportunities that the collaboration between our countries can offer in this field of infrastructure. I told him that Romania is open to Turkish companies that have the technical and professional capacity to carry out important infrastructure projects. We expect these companies to participate further in tenders, of course respecting the rigors of the Romanian and European legislation," Grindeanu wrote on his Facebook page.He added that he had also discussed how to draw as many transport routes as possible to Constanta Port, but also about the modernization of the port infrastructure."My counterpart, Adil Karaismailoglu, has given assurances that Turkey is in line with current European green transport policies and will support investments in transport infrastructure in Romania," Grindeanu said.