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9 BEYOND LASER VALLEY Territorial competitiveness The territorial logic in which the Laser Valley - Land of Lights project is anchored indicates three modelling drivers: The frst driver is its immediate proximity with Bucharest, which hosts one of the most important talent pools in the region and the most important in Romania, visible internationally through the connections linking Bucharest with Europe and the rest of the world. The second driver is the Danube axis, supported ever since 2011 by the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region; it includes several pairs of Danube cities which may generate systematic cross- border cooperation between Romania and Bulgaria: Turnu Măgurele - Nicopole, Giurgiu - Ruse, Olteniţa - Turtucaia and Călăraşi - Silistra. Shifting the perspective from this transversal to a vast longitudinal view, the Danube is so far the only waterway which enables Romania’s contact and interaction with the Western Europe and Asia. Therefore, it becomes the southern part of Romania’s continental and intercontinental economic integration axis.