Romania and Foreign Investment
The Romanian Government is looking for ways to attract more investors
Roxana Vasile, 23.03.2018, 13:13
Bringing foreign investors to Romania has been a top priority for all the cabinets that have governed the country since the anti-communist revolution of 1989. Unfortunately, successful privatizations have been accompanied by haphazard deals which more often than not were to the detriment of both the state and local communities. Some enterprises have been taken over by incompetent people, who thought they could get them up and running, but have utterly failed. Others have been purchased in bad faith, for their assets alone. Moreover, many of these privatizations are still subject to corruption investigations.
On Thursday, the Economy Ministry announced that the state would buy the majority stake in the DMHI Mangalia Shipyard, currently owned by a South-Korean group. More specifically, it will be a joint venture, with the Romanian Economy Ministry owning 51% of the shares, while Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands will buy from the South – Koreans the remaining 49% of the shares. “It is for the first time in the last 28 years that the state takes over a privatized strategic industrial objective. As the majority stakeholder, we can now effectively protect state interests as well as the highly qualified workforce of this shipyard”, reads a Ministry press release.
The desperate financial situation of the company has already resulted in hundreds of workers leaving the company. In the last and a half year no negotiations have been held with the company leadership with a view to raising salaries. With more details on that, here is the trade union leader Laurentiu Gobeaja:
“Everyone knew about our problems for years: that the number of ships was going down and we were about to be faced with severe production cutbacks. No decision was made in that respect, and over the entire period we continuously notified the Ministry and the company leadership that we were worried by the lack of work. The last ship we built was shipped off on February 7. Since then, the 700 employees have had little work to do, as the docks are empty and the shipyard is half-deserted. I dont think there will be much activity at the shipyard in the near future; maybe in a year or two, but only if things improve”.
During her visit to Dambovita County, the Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila met with foreign investors at the Ulmi industrial platform, where the largest house appliance production unit in south-eastern Europe is currently under construction. On this occasion, the Romanian official said the Government was looking for ways to attract more investments.
Prime Minister Viorica Dancila: “I will support investments in Romania. I will work with my team of ministers to find ways to make Romania more appealing to Romanian and foreign investors.
Business people should be encouraged to invest in Romania, Viorica Dancila also said. This can only be done by concrete measures, such as a stable legal framework and a European-level infrastructure.
