Bucharest felt much like home for International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde (in picture, middle) during her first two days in the country, and Romania epitomizes the goal of an open and inclusive Europe, said the IMF official during her first visit to the country.

The country's future lies within the European family, Lagarde reinforced, but Romania has even more at stake, more to gain among the countries in its neighborhood. She reminded of the high level of exports from Romania to the EU and of the economic potential which can be capitalized on, such as the potentially abundant supply of natural energy, as well an energetic and largely untapped workforce.

“Romania has successfully stabilized its economy after being hard hit by the crisis. This involved difficult decisions, but the country took ownership of the problems and delivered an impressive reversal of previously unsustainable macroeconomic imbalances. In the space of three years, Romania reduced its fiscal deficit by more than 6 percent of GDP, and has exited the EU’s Excessive Deficit Procedure this year,” said Lagarde in her speech.

However, the focus should now be not only on surviving, but on thriving. “The focus now is how to take the economy to the next level. The priority is to pursue plans for structural transformation to make sure that Romania can not only survive, but will thrive as part of Europe,” the IMF managing director said.

“Your country deserves credit for taking steps over the past several years to begin chipping away at the barriers to higher growth. Here, I would highlight the impressive steps toward liberalizing energy prices,” Lagarde added.

She reminded of the power of working together towards achieving goals: “There is a saying in your country “Unde-s doi, puterea creşte”. It sounds beautiful. Both in melody and in meaning it reveals something very profound about your country. In English this translates as “where there are two, the strength rises”, or more loosely “we are stronger together”. We hear this strength in the harmonious blend of Latin and Slavic heritage.”

The entire speech can be read here.

editor@romania-insider.com