PM Citu: We are preparing a development plan throughout 2028 to move to an economy with best-paying jobs

 

The prime minister participated in the Grand Digital Matinee event organised online by the French Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Romania.

 

"This government is about reform and investment, with a medium-term development plan. That sums up everything we want to do while in office, (...) which has a horizon over 2024. Now, we are preparing a development plan for Romania throughout 2028. (...) I said reform and investment, because Romania has to move to the next level. You talked about direct investment in Romania and what we could do to change the paradigm. In my opinion, things are very simple: we are moving to a model of economic development in which jobs, for example, are highest-paying, and Romania's attractiveness will no longer be with cheap labour for types of work that had no added value. We change things, we move to highest-paying jobs for investment that bring great added value," said Flo Citu.

 

He pointed out that in order to be globally competitive, the economy must move towards areas with high added value and high profit margins, which means skilled labour. "We are preparing the ground in Romania for that as well. We will qualify the workforce through state resources, of course, we will do it in partnership with those in the private sector," the prime minister explained.

 

"Opportunities in the Jiu Valley, in Moldavia, or in southern Romania, everywhere we must create the legal framework through which the labour force can move flexibly between sectors and be able to retrain very quickly. Therefore, once again, we will have the inter-ministerial committees. Solutions, as happened last year, came every time after we had debates with our private sector partners," Citu said.

 

Development cannot be done without human capital to sustain it, he said.

 

"We are talking about digital transformation; after all, you still need qualified human capital. And there are two problems: one short-term, quantitative problem related to where we take the workforce to support short-term economic growth and the second is a medium to long term problem of quality, and here we have 'Educated Romania'. 'Educated Romania' is a project that will yield results in about 15-20 years of reform, we will not see them today, but it is important to take up these reforms. And I think there is a need for continued pressure from the private sector for these reforms to be sustained," he said.

 

He added that he has included the reforms in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to ensure that whatever government comes after 2028-2030 they will be conducted.

 

"We need this predictability and that is how we give predictability - by including reforms in the pieces of legislation," said Citu.