Hewlett Packard (HP) Romania plans to hire 600 people in 2011 for its Bucharest-based services center Global eBusiness Operations (GeBOC), which is similar to the number of people the company hired in 2010, GeBOC general manager Alexander Weigl has said.

German drug producer Boehringer Ingelheim expects the Romanian subsidiary to grow its sales by 14.6 percent this year, to around EUR 23.3 million, according to the company's general manager in Romania, Franz Zinsberger.

Arval Romania, part of BNP Paribas, has appointed Christian Busch managing director. Busch has been running the Arval subsidiary in Germany for the last six years and was head of logistics with Muller-Brot AG until then. He replaces Arnault Leglaye, who has been running the Romanian subsidiary since 2008.

Make up Art Cosmetics (M•A•C) will open a Pop Up store in Baneasa Shopping City in December this year, the first such unit on the Romanian market.

A Brasov-based company called Visual Fan will next month launch a tablet PC called Allview AllDro. The tablet is produced in China based on Visual Fan's technical specifications and will be sold for EUR 200.

Romania and the International Monetary Fund have agreed on a budget deficit target of 1.3 billion for the first quarter of next year, one third lower compared to the same period of 2010.

Romanian company Bioromoil Automatic Stations will open the first automatic gas station in Craiova this month and plans to reach a network of 40 such stations close to large retail centers by the end of next year.

Valvis Holding, a company owned by serial investor Jean Valvis, has invested EUR 12.5 million in technologies for the new mineral water brand Aqua Carpatica and expects it to reach a market share of 10 percent in the next two years

Artanu and Suedezu, the founding members of Partizan and Timpuri Noi bands, will perform a live show with Partizan, the Romanian band which re-started its series of concerts this summer. They will be on stage at the Fourteen Bar (14 Benjamin Franklin St.) on Friday, November 19, from 22,00 hours.

Gabriela Adamesteanu is one of the best known contemporary Romanian writers. Her books, written in a colorful and colloquial style, have been translated into more than 10 languages, turning her into a bestselling author.

The value of payments using foreign-issued cards to Romanian traders climbed to a record EUR 94 million, 25 percent above the previous quarter's level.

*How did entrepreneur Ioan Ciolan restructure the Ambient business, from EUR 20 mln loss – in Ziarul Financiar
*Airports with under a million passenger traffic a year need EUR 150 million to develop – in Ziarul Financiar
*Large stock market players invest millions of lei in Fondul Proprietatea – in Ziarul Financiar
*The Government sets up the Fiscal Police – in Ziarul Financiar