British companies storm Romania’s capital in search of new opportunities

A trade delegation of around 50 British businesses will set camp in Bucharest for an intensive round of seminars, meetings and networking opportunities, on March 9-10, British ambassador to Romania Paul Brummell announced in a blog post. “The Mission is a milestone event: the largest UK commercial delegation to Romania since the Revolution 25 years ago, and probably for a good while before that,” Brummell wrote. Bilateral trade between Romania and the UK reached EUR 3 billion in 2014 while British investment in Romania currently amounts to EUR 6.5 billion. “This is not a poor record by any means. However, in sectors such as nuclear energy, oil & gas, transport infrastructure and water & environment we believe the necessary ingredients are in place for British companies to win even more business in Romania. These four sectors form the primary focus of the Mega Mission,” the British ambassador said. He believes that all four targeted industries will benefit from significant amounts of EU funds in the following years. “Some EUR 9 billion is available for infrastructure projects in Romania alone, for example, an unprecedented level of investment that should have a transformative impact. 2015 will be a crucial year in terms of deciding how this money will be spent.” However, the fact that these two fundamental ingredients for British business success are in place is not enough on its own, according to the British official. “For this to translate into significant new business wins, a critical mass of British companies first need to be aware of the opportunities that exist here. There are challenges, for example around continuing relatively high levels of corruption and weakness around legislative predictability. Still, compared with many other markets in the world, Romania is a relatively straightforward place in which to do business.” The British delegation will then go to Bulgaria. editor@romania-insider.com