German investors waiting for better laws

The German companies are interested to invest on the Romanian natural gas, energy and tourism markets, Axel Gerlach, state secretary of the German Economy and Labour Ministry said on Wednesday. “I can confirm the firm interest of several German companies. Wintershall and Ruhrgas are interested in the privatisation of the Romanian gas distribution,” Gerlach said. He added the German capital was also considering several other fields, such as electrical power and tourism. Gerlach said the level of German investments in Romania could be boosted by improved Romanian legislative framework, fiscal norms, customs procedures and duties, as well as by enforcing the court rulings. “Romania should improve this legislative framework and bring it in line with the European norms by 2005. Romania is now competing with other countries, which are also perfecting their legislative framework to attract investors,” Gerlach said. The volume of the Romanian-German trade amounted to $5bn in 2002, up 16% from 2001. ZF