On 3rd June, Amazon’s Development Centre in Iași had the honour of hosting NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoană.
The visit commenced with a warm welcome and an introductory tour of the Development Centre, showcasing Amazon's cutting-edge facilities and innovative projects developed in Iași. The discussions that followed were both insightful and forward-thinking, focusing on several key topics crucial to the region's development.
Our dialogue underscored the importance of leveraging technology to enhance security, economic growth, and regional stability, as Romania and the Republic of Moldova have significant potential to be regional hubs for technological advancement. The discussions focused on exploring ways to incentivise research, development, and innovation programmes and initiatives that could advance this goal.
The two parties also shared thoughts on transatlantic cooperation in digital policy, trade, and cybersecurity as an essential factor for building resilience in Europe, the CEE countries and Romania. In the current strategic context, effective cooperation between the public and private sectors is critical, and the discussions touched upon the relevance of developing synergies between Amazon's extensive innovation capabilities and NATO's initiatives, particularly the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) programme.
The war in Ukraine has increased the importance of NATO’s eastern flank, emphasising the need for regional cooperation. In Iași, Amazon’s unwavering support for Ukraine since the onset of the conflict was discussed, highlighting our commitment to humanitarian and technological assistance in times of crisis, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) playing a crucial role in migrating key Ukrainian public data to the cloud.
With a history of 19 years, Amazon’s presence has grown exponentially in Romania, with the most recent launch of a new Amazon Games studio in Bucharest proof of our growing investment in the country’s creative and digital economy.
