Romania still needs to develop its transport infrastructure at the national level, including the completion of three major highway projects, President Nicusor Dan said on Tuesday.
The three projects he mentioned in a Facebook message are the A1 Sibiu-Pitesti, which connects with Central Europe, the A7 - Moldovan highway, towards Ukraine, and the A8 "Union Highway", which connects our country with the Republic of Moldova.
"For all infrastructure investments, cohesion funds remain essential for us," said the head of state, in the context of the meeting, at Cotroceni Palace, with Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism.
The President also said that he discussed with the European official how our country can better leverage its assets in the overall connectivity architecture.
"Transport and ensuring safe routes for goods are gaining increasing strategic importance both for Romania and for the entire European Union, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the current crisis in the Middle East," said Nicusor Dan.
He appreciated that the Port of Constanta, the Baltic Sea - Black Sea - Aegean Sea corridors and the Rhine - Danube corridors have become essential for both goods flows and military mobility.
"I told European Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas that, given Romania's geostrategic position, including for the implementation of the Vertical Corridor, our country must access more of the additional European funds intended for interconnectivity," the head of state emphasized.
Nicusor Dan highlighted that the security of our country and, implicitly, of Europe also depends on the safe expansion of European transport corridors to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, which would also generate the gradual integration of these states into the Single Market.
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