FIEO Chief calls for greater exchange of information with Romania
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| Mr. Ganesh Kumar Gupta, President, FIEO(right) welcoming Mr Ioan Chiriacescu, Leader of the Romanian Delegation & President, Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Braila |
FIEO President Mr. Ganesh Kumar Gupta has called for regular, uninterrupted exchange of commercial information between India and Romania. While welcoming a Romanian Business Delegation in FIEO’s newly built Niryat Bahwan in New Delhi on 7th March 2007, he said lack of information about each other’s capability is a major bottleneck in Indo-Romanian bilateral trade. The 13 member delegation from Romania was led by Mr. Ioan Chiriacescu, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Braila and comprised of businessmen dealing in textile accessories, handmade carpets, bed cover, towel, furniture, candies, mineral resources, man power services, technological equipment etc.
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| Mr Subhash Mittal, Convenor, FIEO Committee on International Trade & Export Promotion presenting a momento to H.E. Mr Vasile Sofineti, Ambassador of Romania |
FIEO Chief drew the attention of the participants towards some inconsistency in Indian exports to Romania and urged that necessary steps should be taken by the governments from both the countries to put Indo-Romanian trade on a consistently expanding track. Our exports to Romania increased in the year 2004-05 to US$ 105 mn from US$ 48mn in 2003-04 but it declined to US $84 mn in 2005-06, informed Mr. Gupta
The delegation leader during his speech said Romania has trade relation with India in coal and energy sector, especially in organic and inorganic compounds, metallurgy, ball bearing, pharmaceutical products etc., but other sectors should be explored for more trade between the two countries. He identified textiles and carpets as the two major sectors where the two countries could set up joint ventures for mutual benefit. Reacting to FIEO Chief’s call for greater exchange of commercial information, Mr. Ioan informed that from 1994 to 2004 Romania had already sent six economic missions to India and were looking to arrange more visits of such missions in future.
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| From the left, are Mr Ioan Chiriacescu; Mr Ganesh Kumar Gupta; H E Mr Vasile Sofineti; and Mr Subhash Mittal, |
Earlier, while welcoming the delegation, the Convenor of FIEO Committee on International Trade & Export Promotion, Mr. Subhash Mittal called Romania as one of the fastest developing East European countries and said it could serve not only as an ideal destination for our goods and services but also as the hub of distribution for our manufactured goods in EU countries, Balkan States and Southeastern CIS countries. He added that investing in Romania had an additional advantage as setting up an office in Romania or investing in real estate in Romania was cheaper than in its neighboring countries.
Mr. Mittal advised Indian exporters to arrange visits of the delegates to their manufacturing units to show them the how they were maintaining quality in the manufacturing process. He also invited Romanian delegates to ModExpo 2007 where FIEO is organizing Integrated Textile Show from 15th to 18th march at Bucharest.
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| One-to-one business meeting in progress. | A view of the participants of the Romanian delegation |
Towards the end of the meeting, Romanian delegates had a buyer seller meet with around 45 Indian exporters drawn from industries such as textile, textile accessories, handmade carpets, bed cover, towel, furniture, candies, mineral resources, manpower services, technological equipment etc. who showed their samples to the Romanian delegates. The leader of the delegation expressed satisfaction over the meet where a number of meaningful business enquires were generated. Romanian Ambassador to India Mr. Vasile Sofineti also joined the meet and said he was looking forward to FIEO to serve as ‘Federation of Incredible Exporters Organization’.
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Romania: The Emerging East European Economy With a GDP per capita (PPP) of $10,152 in 2006, Romania is considered an upper-middle income economy and has been a part of the European Union since 1st January 2007. After the Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by an obsolete industrial base and a lack of structural reform. From 2000 onwards, however, the Romanian economy was transformed into one with relative macroeconomic stability, characterised by high growth, low unemployment and declining inflation. In 2006, its GDP growth was recorded at 7.7%, one of the highest in Europe. Unemployment in Romania was at 5.0% in September 2006 which is very low compared to other middle-sized or large European countries such as Poland, France, Germany and Spain. Foreign debt is also comparatively low, at 20.3% of the GDP. Romanian exports have increased substantially in the past few years, with a 25% year-on-year rise in the first quarter of 2006. Romania’s main exports are clothing and textiles, industrial machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, metallurgic products, raw materials, cars, military equipment, software, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flowers. Trade is mostly centred on the member states of the European Union, with Germany and Italy being the country’s single largest trading partners. The country, however, maintains a large trade deficit, as it imports 37% more goods than it exports. |
