Romanian minister of Communications says Romania will become "the tiger of Europe" by 2018

“Digitalization offers Romania a great opportunity to catch up to other more technologically advanced countries, and I am convinced that by 2018, Romania will become the tiger of Europe, as it was stated on other occasions,” said Marius Bostan, minister for Communications and Information Technology during the official opening of Bucharest Technology Week, quoted by Agerpres newswire.

“We must reach out to the citizen as more and possible. As a state, we can do a lot, and we are doing a lot. I would like to celebrate 100 years since the Union in 2018 at Alba Iulia, via a technology week. We must be an inspirational model for all other cities. We have the technology but it is yet not put to work to bring added value. Neither corporations nor citizens are using technology at its true value to gain time, bring more money and create new workplaces. Digitalization offers Romania a great opportunity to catch up to other more technologically advanced states. People here can make the difference. I trust that by 2018, Romania will become the tiger of Europe. I am glad that I am seeing Romanian innovative companies present here and their number is increasing every moment. The cooperation between large and small companies is very good,” said Bostan.

In spite of the minister’s comments, figures about digital skills in Romania are not looking very bright. According to an article previously published by BR, Romania landed at the bottom of the digital ranking made by The Digital Economy and Society Index 2016.

Thus, Romania registered an overall score of 0.35 and ranks 28^th out of the 28 EU member states in the Digital Economy and Society Index 2016. More people have subscribed to broadband networks compared to last year, also thanks to its good quality, but low levels of digital skills and trust seem to be holding back the development of its digital economy.

Bucharest Technology Week will be taking place between May 24-29 and it is estimated to welcome 10,000 visitors.