Potential - Israel Is Interested in Romanian Businesses

"Welcome, my friend!". The head of the Romanian diplomacy, Razvan Ungureanu, was welcomed at the Israeli Ministry of External Affairs. His counterpart in Jerusalem introduced him as "an expert in Judaism and a friend of Israel".

Much appreciated in Israel, Ungureanu had a meeting with his Israeli counterpart, at the headquarters of the Jerusalem Ministry of External Affairs. Silvan Shalom, the Israeli Minister of External Affairs, wanted to use this opportunity for mentioning the excellent relations between Romania and Israel, which haven’t stop since 1948, when Israel appeared as a state. He emphasized that, lately, Bucharest was one of the European countries that carried the most for the fight against anti-Semitism.

SUPPORT. Shalom, who sees Romania as an important player in the peace process in the Middle East, welcomed Bucharest’s decision a few weeks ago according to which Romania would vote against the internationalization of the peace process in the Middle East. By this decision, Romania withdraws from the Palestine Committee of the United Nations, which stands out by its annual anti-Israeli decision, no matter the issue or area. "I hope there would be some other states to follow Romania’s example", Shalom said at the press conference organized for the meeting between the two ministers.

INTEREST. Shalom, who emphasized Israel’s important investments in the last years, its main target being Hungary and Poland, noticed that the Israeli exports in Romania in the last years have increased by 9.5% and the imports by 30%. According to him, Romania is the main commercial partner of Israel in the Central and Eastern Europe. The Israeli business community invested more than 200 million US dollars in the Romanian economy. "Today, my colleague and I will look for ways to develop these bilateral commercial relations by means of economical agreements", Shalom said.

"Many voices, especially from Europe, have said in the past months that a dialogue with the Palestine organization Hamas must be established. We have to remind this is no political, democratic or charity organization", Shalom said. He wanted to use this press conference to send Europe a message with an important meaning.