Very important projects to Romania, such as Via Transilvania and slow tourism in the Danube Delta, will be funded with Norwegian grants, the Minister of European Investment and Projects, Dragos Pislaru, said on Thursday, at the end of a government sitting.

'We have announced that the memorandum will be signed with Norway and with the states of the European Economic Area. (...) What was not said yesterday and I would like it to be understood is that there are some very important projects for Romania in this support related to Norwegian funds. First of all, it is the first time when the Romanian government pledges to use the funding that I mentioned to you to support Via Transilvania and it is something that I think we deserved to do for a long time. It is a project that was practically made from scratch, started from nothing and which has now become one of the things we are proud of at a tourist and cultural level at a global level, not just European,' said Pislaru.

He added that another project, 'lost due to the poor management of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan ( PNRR)', namely the development of slow tourism in the Danube Delta, was discussed to be financed also from Norwegian funds.

'Secondly, a project lost due to the poor management of the PNRR, namely the development of slow tourism in the Danube Delta - which was also lost due to the fact that no one was concerned (...) And it was abandoned from the PNRR because it could not be implemented anymore - we discussed with the Norwegian partners to be able to finance it with Norwegian funds. It is the pet project of rower Ivan Patzaichin. It was his dream for over 20 years that tourism in the Danube Delta should not be done with boats that make noise everywhere, in all directions, and that there should be, as we find in all national parks, in all nature reserves, routes where you can really understand what this extraordinary heritage is. And the fact that we have now identified the source of funding so that this project is not lost represents to me a tribute in memory of Ivan Patzaichin and is a very important moment to have a visitable Delta,' the minister said.

He added that countless other projects are targeted, such as measures related to the fight against disinformation, 'something that we will have in a bilateral relationship with Norway', and other things related to cultural and social heritage, biodiversity, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Romania will get over EUR 596 million in new financing period of the EEA and Norwegian Grants, after the signing of the Memoranda of Understanding with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, with the funds supporting programmes in areas such as green transition, innovation, social cohesion, strengthening democratic institutions and bilateral cooperation. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Nicoleta Gherasi; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)