Romania to host the Summit of the Three Seas Initiative on Wednesday

President Klaus Iohannis will host, on Wednesday, at the Cotroceni Palace, the 8th edition of the Summit of the Three Seas Initiative (I3M), where 12 states, strategic partners and representatives of the EBRD, EIB, OECD, IMF and the Bank will participate World.

“The high-level event will be attended by representatives from all 12 countries participating in the Initiative (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, along with the host country, Romania), the partners strategic representatives of I3M (the United States, the European Commission and Germany), a number of special guests (Greece, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey), as well as representatives of important international organizations (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Monetary Fund, World Bank),” says a press release by the Presidential Administration.

On the sidelines of the Summit, a new edition of the I3M Business Forum will be organized on Thursday, September 7, by the Government of Romania, under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.

“During the work of the Summit, President Klaus Iohannis will present the results of Romania’s mandate at the head of I3M (June 2022 – September 2023), also reflected in the Joint Declaration of the Summit, which will be adopted at the end of the discussions. This will constitute an important benchmark for the future activities of I3M, targeting the directions of action for the development of cross-border interconnections in the field of transport infrastructure, energy and digitalization, but also regarding the consolidation and diversification of the financial instruments of the Initiative. By adopting the Bucharest Declaration, Greece will become the 13th participating state in the Initiative, and Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova will obtain the status of participating states associated with I3M.

The President of Romania will emphasize that, over a year and a half after the beginning of Russia’s brutal and illegal aggression against Ukraine, I3M has reconfirmed the validity of its concept and the urgency of implementing its objectives, in the current geopolitical context this high-level political dialogue platform becoming a important tool for strengthening regional and European resilience. President Klaus Iohannis will also encourage the development of new tools and partnerships to catalyze investments in priority I3M projects, including through the creation of a new Investment Fund, which will continue the activity of the one initiated at the Bucharest Summit in 2018, and the examination of the most effective ways to create an Innovation Fund of the Initiative.

On the occasion of the Summit, the list of strategic priority projects will also be updated, the first such list being launched on the occasion of the previous Summit in Bucharest.

Romania is the first of the I3M participating states to organize a Summit of the Initiative for the second time, after the one successfully hosted by the President of Romania in Bucharest, on September 17-18, 2018. On the occasion of the first Summit in Bucharest, decisions were adopted essential for the future of the Initiative, such as: approving the list of major priority interconnection projects in the fields of transport, energy and digital; organizing the first Business Forum of the Three Seas Initiative; launching the I3M Chambers of Commerce network (by signing the Joint Declaration establishing this network); initiating the procedure for launching the Investment Fund of the Three Seas Initiative (by signing the Letter of Intent regarding its creation)”, says the press release.