Exhange of experience with Poland on the Development Fund; Senate's Tariceanu: A very interesting meeting

President of the Senate Calin Popescu-Tariceanu on Tuesday said he was pleased with the extented meeting he had with the Minister of Investment and Development in Poland, Jerzy Kwiecinski, and with the President of the Polish Fund for Development, Pawel Borys, which meeting he labeled as "very interesting," considering that Romania is creating its own Sovereign Development Fund; however, he also mentioned that "the idea wasn't to copy anybody, for there aren't two identical development funds." 

"We ended the meeting, which was very interesting in my opinion, for we were able to watch a presentation made by the Polish Ministry of Economy and Economic Development, together with the President of the Polish Development Fund related to how the Polish Development Fund was set up and works. I invited the two Polish officials considering our own project to set up the Sovereign Development Fund in Romania and, of course, it seemed normal to carry out an exchange of experience in this context, to see what is the structure of the Polish Fund, what they had in mind when they created it, how it works now, what are the risks - for such financial instruments also imply taking a certain risk and I also saw what were the results after almost three years of functioning of the Polish Fund," said Tariceanu. 

He also added that the two projects are not "quite identical," while he mentioned that the idea was not to copy anybody, for there aren't two identical development funds." 

According to the Senate Speaker, the models are different from country to country, while Romania needs two things to finalize this project - the general functioning framework of the Development Fund and the actual creation of it. 

With respect to the approval of the legislative proposal, Tariceanu said that it will come when "the draft ordinance regarding the creation of a legislative framework will be a comprehensive one, providing the certainty that it's seated on the right path." 

Participating in the meeting were also Speaker f the Deputies' Chamber Liviu Dragnea, Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, representatives of the Government and the Opposition.