French President Francois Hollande visits Romania on Tuesday

French President Francois Hollande will pay a visit to Romania on Tuesday, September 13, Presidential Administration spokesperson Madalina Puscalau-Dobrovolschi announced on Sunday. Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis will welcome the French President at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest at 09:00. The two will make joint press statements after the meeting. Next, the two Presidents will go to the Research Center in Magurele. There, in the presence of two officials, Iohannis and Hollande will sign several important agreements in education and research. At 12:00, the two officials will attend the “French-Romanian partnerships for the future” Economic Forum. “This is an important forum given that we need to analyze a little the relation between Romania and France from this point of view, and maybe I should mention here that France is the fourth largest trading partner and fifth investor in Romania, and, after all, it is also good to understand what is the shared objective of this meeting. It's about the need to strengthen the strategic partnership between Romania and France and, of course, deepen bilateral dialogue,” the Presidential Administration spokesperson said. The two Presidents will also discuss what is currently happening with rethinking the European project, what is the vision for rebuilding this European project, and what happens after Brexit. Klaus Iohannis and Francois Hollande previously met in February 2015, when the Romanian President visited France. French Minister of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir said in June that Francois Hollande would visit Romania on September 12-13. President Iohannis confirmed the visit in late August. During the his visit to Romania, the French President and Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos will inaugurate the Airbus Helicopters factory in Ghimbav near Brasov. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com