Lara Tassan Zanin, EIB: The opportunity that Romania has today is unprecedented

The EU and the European Investment Bank may provide financial assistance and advisory services, but it remains Romania’s job to design its own future, Lara Tassan Zanin, Head of the EIB Group Office in Romania, said during the most recent Foreign Investors Summit, BR’s landmark event that reached its 8th edition this year.

“Romania must decide what it wants to look like in the future, what it can do to strengthen its economy, what types of investments it wants to attract in order to have a greener and more sustainable economy, and how it should try to obtain those investments,” said Lara Tassan Zanin, the Head of the European Investment Bank.

Romania also has plenty of opportunities related to the available transition and structural funds, and all of these should be used more in order to generate added value in the economy, which means that authorities must have a medium- and long-term vision in place.

Read more about

The Joint Initiative on Circular Economy to provide €16 billion to circular projects by 2025

read more

The EIB, the financial arm of the EU has been supporting the sustainable economic growth of Romania for the past 30 years, says Zanin.

“The opportunity that Romania has today is unprecedented. We are here to help deploy resources in a smart, green, and more digital way. We also have the resources and the potential, but we need clear incentives to support green investments.” Explains Lara Tassan Zanin.

Health and education, key sectors for the sustainable development of Romania

“Now is the moment to invest in health and education. We need to invest in sustainable and long-term projects. The EIB will support the first 3 new state hospitals ever built in Romania in the past 30 years. Healthcare is a key sector for Romania and it’s also important to invest in research in this area.” The EIB representative believes.

Brain retention & human capital

“Romania has to address its brain retention issue. Investing in human capital, in upskilling, reskilling and retraining the labor force should be very high in political priorities. Our experience in Romania shows that various public institutions in Romania have a good working capacity and well-trained employees, but the problem is that these people will leave the public sector into the private one.” Concluded Lara Tassan Zanin.