President Iohannis: Interconnection projects revealed at Three Seas Initiative summit, top level political signal

The list of priority interconnection projects presented within the Summit of the Three Seas Initiative is "a top level political signal", on Tuesday stated Klaus Iohannis, in a news conference at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. 

The President delivered a joint declaration alongside his Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the Prime Minister of the Polish Government, Mateusz Morawiecki, and the US Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry. 

"Romania's undertaking of the Bucharest Summit has had as its main argument the potential of this Initiative to address the real need of the 12 participating states for economic development and regional interconnection aiming to attain convergence with Western Europe," the President said. 

He added that the high officials attending the event Monday and Tuesday have endorsed "a joint declaration stipulating the fundamental principles that are at the grounds of the Three Seas Initiative and the concrete objectives pursued by this platform." 

"Now we have a joint understanding as regards the main goals of the Initiative, that are pro-economic development in the region, pro-EU and pro-transatlantic connections," emphasized the president. The fields of interest within the summit were the transport, energy and digital technology. 

The pro-European aspect, the president added, is stressed by the presence at the summit of the European Commission's head, Jean-Claude Juncker. 

"I'm happy that Mr. Juncker, President of the European Commission, accepted to join us today," Iohannis stressed, adding that another goal of the summit is "to strengthen the transatlantic connections". 

"The US economic presence in the region is a catalyst for cooperation in the area," he added. 

Iohannis spoke about the Business Forum in connection with the summit. 
"I'm glad the success of this event has determined the decision to have it organized on a regular basis, preferably every year," he said. 

According to the joint Declaration after the summit, "concrete steps in creating the investment fund of the Three Seas Initiative" would follow. 

The declaration has in view "the expression of the political support for a regional list of priority interconnection projects - energy, transport and digital technology," Iohannis asserted. 

The list of projects has been established, he added, "based on the contributions of the countries participating in the Initiative". 

The six Romanian projects that have been tabled, Iohannis went further, "were approved by Romania's Government in consultation with the Presidential Administration." 
"It is not a list of the participating countries' heads, but the contribution of our countries' governments," added the president. 

Likewise, he talked about the significance of this to-do list. 

"Through this list we give a top level political signal to investors regarding the major interconnection projects that our countries consider to be a priority," Iohannis underlined. 

At the same time, following the summit, a decision was made to accept Germany as partner state in the Initiative, president Iohannis added.