Representatives of the business milieu, administration, industry, researchers and representatives of the academic milieu met on Tuesday acft the Iasi City Hall to discuss the opportunity of establishing an aerospace cluster.

Present at the discussions, Dumitru Prunariu, former cosmonaut and the only person from Romania to have reached outer space, believes that the future cluster should have a regional character, which is why guests from Bacau were also invited to the discussions, including the Aerostar company.

In his opinion, Iasi already has resources that can support the development of an aerospace industry, both through companies involved in international projects and through the academic environment.

'There are companies in Iasi involved in international aerospace projects. In addition, higher education in Iasi contributes through the programs offered by the Technical University and some faculties of Cuza University, which train specialists capable of working in this field. In fact, the development of an aerospace engineering faculty is being considered in Iasi. All these elements contribute to the development of the aerospace field, and their coagulation could be achieved through a dedicated cluster, which would guide young people, inform them from the early stages and offer them internship opportunities in companies in the field. In this way, a solid foundation could be built for the future development of the sector in Iasi', Dumitru Prunariu told AGERPRES.

Mayor Mihai Chirica believes that Iasi should take advantage of the growing interest in this field and build a structure capable of capitalizing on local resources.

'The idea of an aerospace cluster comes from the need to bring together the administration, universities, research and companies interested in this sector. The economic milieu needs well-trained specialists, and universities and research need partners who can transform projects into concrete results. At the same time, we need to attract European funding and use the opportunities available for the development of the region. I would not like this aerospace cluster to remain just an idea, but to capitalize on it as an opportunity already in development at European level,' said Mayor Mihai Chirica. AGERPRES(RO - writing by: Daniela Malache; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)