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“Business partnership – new perspectives of economical Hellenic-Romanian cooperation”
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, in partnership with the Office for Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Embassy of Greece in Bucharest, together with the Hellenic-Romanian Chamber of Commerce, organized the forum “Business partnership – new perspectives of economical Hellenic-Romanian cooperation” conference on Thursday, 23rd of June 2016.
This event has been scheduled as a part of the official visit to Romania of Dimitrios Mardas, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairsof the Hellenic Parliament. During the conference, the Greek Minister mentioned that the official Hellenic delegation had the mission to bring 300 commercial contracts between Romania and Greece. He mentioned he was in contact with 3 Romanian Ministers from that purpose. The relations between Romania and Greece are impeccable, even if the financial situation of the bilateral cooperation is poor, said the Minister. The export figures (from Romania to Greece) are low, only 1.4 billion euros for 2015. But Greek businessmen are very present on the Romanian market and are investing in Romania and developing their business, said Mardas.
The Minister invited the Greek officials and businessmen to be very careful, though, as the economic relations between Romania and Greece have a higher potential that needs to be developed. As EU members, Romania and Greece have customs facilities that make commercial exchanges very smooth. The Minister declared that the mission of the Greek delegation was to convince the Greeks to buy Romanian products and Romanians to buy Greek products. The main fields of common interest – said Mardas – are the food industry, energy, and tourism. Greece will also become a touristic hub due to its geographical position. The Piraeus port is in a privatization process, together with 2 other Greek ports, facilitating the economic and tourist future exchanges through a modern and adapted infrastructure.
The Minister mentioned that new fields should become of common interest for both Romania and Greece: the Nano-technologies, the IT, all the startups from Greece and Romania, the new technological discoveries that need to be implemented in both countries.
The Minister informed the audience that he scheduled a next meeting with Romanian Officials (for the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017) to focus on the small businesses that operate in these fields. He mentioned that the mission of the Foreign Affair Ministry was to accelerate the diplomatic and economic relations with the countries in the region. Efforts have been made by the Greek Foreign Affair Minister to develop relations with Africa and the Far East.
13 inter-Ministries commissions are currently working on harmonizing the legal frame for mutual cooperation between Greece and these other countries. The Ministry has already organized over 14 missions, together with “Enterprise Greece” (Enterprise Greece is the official agency of the Greek State, under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, to promote investment in Greece, exports from Greece, and make Greece more attractive as an international business partner) and the Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in order to attain the above mentioned objective.
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According to data sent by CCIR, currently în Romania operate 6,357 companies with Greek capital. According to the NTR, the Greek capital subscribed in March 2016, was 1.77 bn. Euro, thus occupying position No. 6 in the hierarchy of foreign investors in Romania.
The main traded products are:
Exports: metals and metal products, machinery and appliances, mineral products, live animals and animal products.
Imports: metals and metal (aluminum profiles), electrical machinery, plastics and rubber, chemical products, vegetable products.
According to the latest data of the Romanian Tourism Association, the Greek seaside remains best preferred by the Romanians, outpacing even Bulgaria, followed in the seaside rankings by Turkey.