PM Citu, EC Vice President Sefcovic discuss strategic importance of cyber security cooperation, resilience development

Prime Minister Florin Citu and visiting European Commission Vice President for inter-institutional relations and foresight Maros Sefcovic emphasized during their meeting on Monday the strategic importance of cyber security cooperation and of developing resilience, under close coordination of EU and NATO actions, based on information and best practice exchanges, the government informs in a release, agerpres reports.

Premier Citu and EC Vice President Sefcovic met on the occasion of the European senior official's participation in the inauguration on May 31 of the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre in Bucharest.

"During the meeting, Prime Minister Citu expressed his appreciation for the special openness shown by Vice President Sefcovic towards Romania's European priorities on national importance files and for the constant support offered for their reflection in European decisions. The two officials emphasized the strategic importance, as an investment for the future, of cyber security cooperation and resilience development, under close coordination of EU and NATO actions, based on the exchange of information and best practices. Vice President Sefcovic highlighted on this occasion the major role of the future Cyber Security Competence Center based in Bucharest, also confirming the European Commission's full readiness to closely work with the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Center," the statement said.

According to the cited source, Prime Minister Citu thanked for the European Commission's cooperation and support in advancing the process of rendering the Cyber Security Competence Center operational, underlining in this context Romania's pragmatic commitment to making a concrete contribution to efforts to strengthen European and Euro-Atlantic strategic resilience in order to respond to current and future challenges.

Other topics addressed by the two officials were related to the COVID vaccination campaign and Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

"The Prime Minister emphasized the need to stimulate the capacity and significant potential of the European industry in the joint effort to reduce the European Union's external dependence. The diversification of resources for ensuring the double transition, green and digital, was also highlighted by both officials. For the achievement of the goal of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, the interlocutors agreed on the importance of maintaining coordination across the EU, especially by stepping up vaccination campaigns, which have already proved their success, and kiking off the post-pandemic economic recovery at a steady pace. Prime Minister Citu underlined the importance of implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility for ensuring a robust European economic recovery and specified that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan will be submitted on the same day to the European Commission. The Premier also assured of the full commitment of the Romanian government to the promotion of mature projects laid out in the National Plan, reflected by the development of substantial political reforms, investments in the modernization of infrastructure, and to the balanced consolidation of the public finances, meant to support the continuation of the convergence process," the release states.