June 19, 2007

• Until 2008, five towns from the country will benefit from the project “Parks of the Future”
• Bucuresti, Pitesti and Moinesti are the first 3 towns in which this kind of parks will be designed by the end of 2007
• Over EUR 1,5 mn for designing the parks
• The project is part of Petrom social responsibility program “Respect for the Future”
• For the next two years, Petrom has allocated EUR 10 mn to social responsibility programs

Petrom launches the social program “Parks of the Future”, a project aimed to redesign parks in five Romanian towns, built under the concept “Respect for the Future”. This is the first project from a wider series of social responsibility campaigns, announced by the company at the beginning of 2007 and for which the total investment will reach EUR 10 mn.

The “Parks of the Future” project has the purpose to redefine the concept of a classical park in the Romanian urban area and to create a unique piece of nature that is representative for the future. Launched in the spirit of protecting the environment and using renewable energy, the program will develop for a 2 years period, with the support of Petrom and the entire community. By the end of 2007, the host towns of “Parks of the Future” are: Bucharest - „Lunca Florilor” Park from Colentina district, Pitesti - „Expo Park” and Moinesti - „Central Park”. For the next stage of the project, in 2008, the program will include the parks from other 2 towns: Timisoara and Targoviste.

„Petrom honors its promise and launches the first project dedicated to local communities – “Parks of the Future”. Our efforts aim at enabling the authorities in attaining the European standards, at supporting the young generation as well as at involving our employees, the Petrom people. We want, through the innovative way in which we will redesign these places, to make a statement about the spirit of respect for the resources of the planet. This is a promise that we will keep as a sign of respect for community, respect for environment, but most of all, respect for the future”, stated Mariana Gheorghe, CEO Petrom.

The first step of the Petrom program consists in launching a national contest of landscape architecture addressed to all the students and young graduates of the specialized colleges. The participants to the contest in 2007 are invited to imagine the park of the future for the first 3 towns from the program, redesigning their architecture to reach the project’s goal – protection of the environment and using renewable energy. The parks will represent a coherent ecological landscape, in the spirit of the most modern parks in the world.

A jury of Romanian specialists will select and award the best projects that will be further implemented in the parks of the 5 towns participating in the project. The total awards sum up to a total of EUR 16,500. Further details about the contest are available on www.parcurileviitorului.com.

Starting July 2007 the winning projects will begin to be implemented. The Petrom investment in the program is over EUR 1,500,000.

„Through our social responsibility programs we desire to support and to encourage the young generation and the community. That is why we initiated a contest in which we intend to implicate young creative architects that will have the opportunity to participate to a far-reaching project. With the help of a jury of Romanian well-known specialists, we will choose and then implement, supported by the local community, the best projects. We are pleased to have the whole support of the authorities in this initiative”, stated Mona Nicolici, CSR Communication Manager.

The projects will be evaluated by a jury of specialists, architecture and landscape architecture professors, local authorities representatives and civic key opinion leaders – active nongovernmental organizations in ecology and environmental issues, representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, mass-media. Among the members of the jury, are: Nicolae Radulescu Dobrogea, Eco-civica; Dragos Bucurenci, Academia Catavencu  - Rescue the Danube and the Delta Danube; Dana Deac, TVR Producer; Professor Doctor Felicia Iliescu, Landscape Arhitecture Department Coordinator from Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine University, Bucharest; Local Authority: Neculai Ontanu, Sector 2 Mayor (for  “Lunca Florilor” Park ); Vasile Ailincai, Moinesti City Mayor, Bacau District ( for “Central Park” ); Tudor Pendiuc, Pitesti City Mayor, Arges District (for  “ Expo Park ”); Ioan Anghel, General Secretary of Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development; Bruno Andresoiu, architect, Igloo Media; Catalina Preda, architect; Cerasela Craciun, lecturer, Chief of urban equipment at Urbanism Faculty, Landscape Architecture section, “Ion Mincu” University. 

„Respect for the Future” is a large program initiated by Petrom to respond to the needs of society and the environment. The program is the living proof that we believe in the principles of sustainable development. We believe that the needs of the presence can be satisfied with respect for the next generations and this is the reason for which we chose to deal with the environmental and social aspects, as inherent part of our business conduct.