The government will set up a team to initiate negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with a view to the acquisition by the Romanian state, through the National Company “Administratia Porturilor Maritime” S.A. Constanța, of the entire shares owned, through Danube Logistics SRL, by the EBRD at the Giurgiulești International Free Port in the Republic of Moldova, according to Profit.ro.
The port of Giurgiulesti is the only port in the Republic of Moldova accessible for maritime vessels, located at km 133.8 of the Danube river, in the south of the country, bordered by Romania and Ukraine.
“We have to realize that the Port of Constanța is strategic at the moment. I don’t know what will happen to Odessa. There is another smaller port in the Republic of Moldova, Giurgiulești, and already, through the Minister of Transport, Romania has shown its interest to the EBRD – because the majority shareholder in Giurgiulești is the EBRD – for the Romanian state to buy it and develop it”, Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu said a year ago.
The negotiation team now proposed for the acquisition of the Moldovan prot by the Romanian state will be led by the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Transport Bogdan Stelian Mîndrescu and will be formed by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and other relevant institutions.
The government undertakes this step and “taking into account the intention of the MBF Port Burgas company from the Republic of Bulgaria to acquire a share of Danube Logistics SRL owned by the EBRD in the Giurgiulesti Free International Port from the Republic of Moldova, with the aim of investing in the Giurgiulesti port”, reads a document.
Danube Logistics SRL is fully owned by the Dutch company Danube Logistics Holding BV. The sole ultimate owner of the Danube Logistics group of companies is the EBRD.