Time for Greek-Romanian synergies

Attracted by cultural similarities and by the potential of Romania’s economy, Greek investors did not wait for Romania to join the EU to begin investing in the country’s infrastructure, and started to arrive here as early as the 1990s.
“Greek companies launched operations in Romania long before Romania applied for EU member status, even though there was some degree of risk involved,” says Thanos Dendoulis, the Greek ambassador in Romania.
According to the statistical data provided by the embassy, Greek investments in Romania are worth almost 3 billion euros.
“There is a difference between the Romanian computing method and the Greek method, since the former is based only on the origin of foreign investments and only initial investments are taken into consideration and not subsequent ones,” explained the Greek ambassador.
Thanos Dendoulis believes Romania’s EU integration will not increase the pace of Greek investments on the Romanian market, but will trigger various partnerships.
“This is the right time for Greek-Romanian synergies, with the service sector, in particular tourism, being the most likely areas of cooperation. There’s a great deal of potential in this field because Romanians are keen on travelling to Greece and Greeks are interested in coming to Romania”.
Though it is hard to estimate how much exactly the Greek investments in Romania will increase, the Greek ambassador forecasts the growth rate will range between 8-10% over the next five years. “I have to say many sectors of the Romanian economy have been covered quite well by Greek investors, such as the banking sector, with all the major Greek banks being present in Romania”.
Agriculture, energy and tourism are all sectors Greek investors have not yet been really active in.
Dendoulis considers “the main difficulties Greek investors are coping with on the Romanian market are red tape with all its ramifications and discriminatory enforcement of various rulings and regulations”.
As regards the Romanian labour market, seriously hurt by Romanian workers’ migration to other European states, Dendoulis is confident that work force will return and bring back some extra know-how. In his opinion, salary rises will also attract further investors, who are enticed by highly skilled workers and not merely by a cheap labour force.