State Secretary Sebastian Burduja (MPF): “Romania is overdue on some promises on the infrastructure front and we are ready to deliver on these promises”

“The automotive industry is probably the most important engine for the Romanian economy today. Romania should ride the best horses it has. The best horse it has right now is the automotive industry, including its more high added-value components, like research and innovation,” Sebastian Burduja, State Secretary, Ministry of Public Finance said during the “Automotive R&D Power Breakfast”, powered by Automotive Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“We understand the importance you carry. We know Romania is overdue on some promises on the infrastructure front and we are ready to deliver on these promises. Expect that there will continue to be money poured into road infrastructure, railroads and the things that the industry needs. There’s going to be research grants for new technologies, new investments especially for SMEs,” he explained: “The thing I am most proud of since taking this mandate at the ministry is the state-aid scheme for greenfield investments. Romania can still afford to subsidize up to 50 percent of eligible costs, up to 37.5 million Euro per investment based on EU regulation. We have some money to spend, we have about 1.2 billion to commit to this year and we work hard on building this pipeline. We are coming up with some improvements to the scheme. I am very proud of what you are accomplishing, and very grateful that you have kept the engines going. It’s a challenge to see this crisis as an opportunity.”

State Secretary Burduja added one of the Government roles should be deregulation: “We need to get out of your way. You should not be busy dealing with too many permits, too much time spent in queues. We’re trying to digitalize ANAF, the Ministry of Public Finance. We are connecting cash registers to servers, little thing that matter.”

He mentioned that the Ministry of Public Finance can facilitate partnerships between the automotive industry and academia, public institutions, research institutions to make sure that Romania’s brightest minds can work in the country.

“Romania needs at least 100 billion Euro for basic infrastructure needs such as highways, railroads, airports. Romania also needs a National Development Bank,” he concluded.