The Ministry of the Economy announces German investments of 170 million Euros

• German companies deny it

At the end of last week, the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment announced, following the working visit of Minister Ion Ariton in Munich, that he met with the officials of the Continental and Dräxlmaier groups, and they assured him that in the coming years they will invest over 170 million Euros in Romania.

According to the communiqué, the Continental group wants to invest 15.7 million Euros in expanding the output capacity of Contitech Fluid Automotive Romania, and has requested a state aid for this project, according to the legislation in effect. The investment would create 300 jobs. Also, the document shows that the German group intends to continue investing in Timişoara in 2012 and 2013, where it will spend 71 million Euros and will create 400 new jobs, in Sibiu, where the company will allocate approximately 35 million Euros and will create 300 jobs, as well as in Braşov, where a fuel pump factory will be opened. The investment would amount to 20 million Euros, and the number of newly created jobs would amount to 500, the communiqué by the Ministry of the Economy states.

German company Dräxlmaier would also consider a new investment in Romania, aside from the plant that they currently own in Codlea, which is worth 26.8 million Euros. The new plant would create 1,000 jobs, and its main customers would be German carmakers Daimler and Porsche.

• The officials of Continental claim that the data is old

However, the representatives of Continental claim that there is nothing new about this information, as it was presented in a previous meeting between German businesspeople and PM Emil Boc. "Furthermore, a final decision on the investments which will be made in the future hasn"t been made yet. At least when it comes to the investment in Braşov, it is currently far smaller than what was initially announced. Besides, the management of the group has announced that the plant of Braşov will start off with a number of 50 employees in a location rented from Schaeffler România. The plant of Cristian will assemble fuel tank pumps. "The products of the Fuel Supply commercial division made in Braşov will be sold to European customers. Our intention is to target domestic customers in the future as well\", the quoted sources said.