Partnerships and affiliations The specificity of the activity allows us to interact directly with members of the communities in which we operate, and the large number of existing and potential clients urges us to pay special attention to the actions and projects we carry out that could influence this main category of stakeholders. Thus, we choose to collaborate and conclude partnerships with entities with which we have good compatibility in terms of sustainability standards, and which implement the same set of values as us. To be able to bring positive impacts throughout the value chain, we implement together with our partners projects that promote the development of the business environment, sustainability, education and development of children, environmental protection, access to the health system and much more. Thus, the results of these partnerships bring benefits in all sustainability directions and can be found in all sections of this report. More information about projects and partnerships that have direct social implications can be found in the chapter "Employees and society", sections "Social responsibility", "Local communities", "Education and awareness". Projects and partnerships that support environmental protection and resource conservation performance are presented in the chapter "Energy, Climate and Resources", section "Resource conservation" and in the chapter "Sustainable assortment", section "Packaging management". Our main affiliations are: z The Association of Large Commercial Networks in Romania (AMRCR) z The Employers' Federation of Trade Networks (FPRC) z Eurocommerce z Concordia Confederation z The Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK) z The Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce (RDCC) z The Retailers Association for the Environment (ARM) We create partnerships with educational institutions because we are convinced that education is the foundation of any healthy society and at the same time, we believe that only through a stable educational base can the standard of the workforce be increased. At the same time, we try to contribute to reducing the gap between the academic environment and the education received in the pre-university education system and the reality of the labor market in our industry. In the case of collaborations with the academic environment, we continued this year the successful partnership with the Academy of Economic Studies because of which we finalized the study "Strategies for balancing Romania's trade balance by stimulating and supporting national production". This study was based on a complex analysis of the TripleRO (3RO) (3RO) initiative, with the aim of analyzing its impact on the local economy and identifying measures to improve national production. Researchers from the Faculty of Business Administration in Foreign Languages (FABIZ) and the Faculty of Agri-Food Economics and Environment also participated in this partnership. Further details of the results of the study can be found in the "Sustainable Assortment" chapter, "Regional products" section. As part of our partnership with ASE, we also continued the professional training programs through which we supported young professionals, through which we offered in 2023 Scholarship@PENNY internship programs for 4 students passionate about our field of activity. This year's candidates were assigned to the Headquarters, 3 to the Marketing department, and 1 to the MPDA department. The internship was 84 hours for undergraduate students. SUSTAINABILITY STEP BY STEP CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS SUSTAINABLE ASSORTMENT ENERGY, CLIMATE AND RESOURCES EMPLOYEES AND SOCIETY GRI & SASB INDEX ASSURANCE OF SELECTED NON-FINANCIAL INDICATORS
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