Human capital should be a priority in Romania because we have enormous potential and highly skilled specialists, however, if we add together the figures for school dropout and functional illiteracy, we are probably losing nearly half of this capital, Minister of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Irineu Darau said on Tuesday.

'I believe that human capital should be a priority in Romania. I would even dare to say it should be zero priority, in any case, top priority, because, as has been said, we have enormous potential and highly skilled specialists, However, if we look at the data on education and compare it with the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] average, I would venture to say that, when we add together school dropout rates and functional illiteracy, we are probably losing nearly half of Romania's human capital in one way or another. I also believe that much of the gap we can recover lies here, and if we fail to act, the gap will only widen,' Economy Minister Darau said at the debate called 'Romania: Economic Growth Driven by Competitiveness' organised by Romania's Government in partnership with the World Bank Group.

He underscored that he attended last week the Competitiveness Council (COMPET) of the European Union, where EU economy ministers expressed strong concern about the urgency of the issues, the competitiveness gaps compared with the rest of the world and a greater willingness than ever to think and choose 'outside the box' solutions.

'I also believe this is a good moment to respond differently to questions we have had until now. Being a new minister in Romania and, more importantly, with extensive experience in the private sector before entering public office, I would say that, not only in Romania, but also across Europe, we are still operating with a fairly conventional approach. I think the innovation and attractiveness gaps for entrepreneurs and for research and development tend to widen. On the other hand, I believe we have a great opportunity and can consider this period, in which artificial intelligence acts as a kind of fuel accelerating innovation, as a T-zero moment. It is a moment when, if we also press the accelerator in public policy, we have a real chance to reduce these gaps,' the Economy minister said.

He added that, in Romania and across the European Union, the starting ambition before designing public policy responses must be very high.

'Of course, we can think about gradually reducing these differences, in small steps, but I believe we should consider how Europe and Romania could become places where entrepreneurs from outside Europe want to come, to mobilise capital and to invest. It is a very difficult task. It is a highly challenging question: how can we become, for example, attractive to US entrepreneurs, start-ups and unicorns? For now, the opposite is happening. And, of course, this applies to the rest of the world as well. That is why I think part of the question is identifying the barriers, voluntary or involuntary, that exist in the European Union and Romania, which, I would say, reduce the appetite for risk and innovation. I may only have pieces of the answer at this stage. I am really looking forward to exploring these topics,' Irineu Darau mentioned. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Nicoleta Gherasi; EN - writing by: Rodica State)