Romania Is an Attractive Target for the Germans

Romania is an attractive target for the German businessmen, especially regarding the possible adherence at the EU, by having a well trained manpower and multiple investing opportunities.

These are the conclusions of a meeting between German businessmen and the representatives of the state institutions in Romania, which happened with the occasion of Gerhard Schroder’s official visit in Romania.

OPPORTUNITIES. "The large commodity market in Romania and the improvement of the production conditions are good reasons for the foreign companies to invest hear and develop", stated Klaus Mangold, the representative of the Central and Eastern European Committee of Germany. "Some German companies will try externalizing parts of the production and this is a very good opportunity for Romania", also said Mangold.

IMAGE. Romania has a strategic location, offers a competitive work force, has a free investing climate and offers investing facilities, said in his turn Alexandru Popa, the president of the Romanian Agency for Foreign Investments. This way, our country becomes an attractive country for the foreign investors. Anyway, the Romanian businessmen should be more of a partner for the foreign investors, believes Mangold. "The image of Romania improved in the last 5 years, but Romania should struggle maintaining it. The Romanians should not be such barrators when talking about their country in front of the foreign people, but they should show the good things about Romania", said, in his turn, Karl Josef Baum, the president of the Romanian-German Commerce and Industry Chamber.

COMPLAINTS. One of their complaints is the misunderstanding between the members of the local administrations belonging to different parties, conflicts followed by the lack of care for the German investors’ interests. Another complaint of the German investors is about the end of the modernizing works for the Sibiu airport, proposing to the authorities a new one, 2005 instead of 2009.

INVESTMENTS

Germany is one of the greatest investors in Romania, with a total amount of the investments of 780 million euros, the third place after Holland and France. At the end of June 2004, the number of the commercial companies with a German capital was approximately 11,500, the second place after the ones with Italian capital. Among the most important German companies that invested in Romania, we can count Thyssen Krupp, Siemens, Heidelberger Cement, Continental, Ina Scaeffler or RWE.