Aurel Cazacu - Dismissed From IAR - Ghimbav Board

Shareholders in IAR - Ghimbav have decided to relieve Aurel Cazacu of his duties as Chairman of the Board of Directors and replace him with Constantin Stafie.

Minister of Economy Adriean Videanu on 22 August asked Aurel Cazacu to resign from the Ministry of Economy following the scandal sparked by the disclosure that Cazacu was involved in an arms company together with President Traian Basescu"s brother.

The daughter of Aurel Cazacu, a former executive of Romarm, used to be a shareholder in Defense, Security and Intelligence CO - Desintco SRL. Shareholders were also President Traian Basescu"s brother, Mircea Basescu and retired Army General Sandu Ion Eftimie, who had been Deputy Head of the Arms Department of the Defence Ministry until he retired in early 2009.

Constantin Stafie is a Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economy, the main shareholder in IAR - Ghimbav.

• Brasov County Council requests land swap

The Brasov County Council has asked IAR - Ghimbav to swap ownership over two plots of land in order to allow the construction of the Brasov - Ghimbav International Airport on the land currently owned by IAR. The IAR - Ghimbav Board of Directors has been authorized to "perform an analysis of the situation and identify other possible solutions to enable the Brasov County Council to use such land and to execute, within and in observance of the applicable legislation, any and all legal acts / agreements towards this end."

• Six hectares for Primatec

Shareholders in IAR - Ghimbav convened for a General Meeting earlier this week and decided to make available a plot of 60,000 square metres within the company"s premises for the implementation of an investment planned by Premium Aerotec GmbH.

"The project would include the implementation of a strategic investment in the amount of approximately 92 million EUR, of which 43 million EUR for technological assets and approximately 25 million EUR for technological transfers. The rest will be provided by the partners and suppliers of EADS," governmental sources said a month and a half ago.

The investment is planned to create 700 jobs in the high-tech aerospace sector in Romania and generate an aggregated turnover in excess of 700 million EUR in the next ten years. Nevertheless, the investment plan proposed by EADS depends on the Government"s contribution to the project.

Specifically, the Romanian Government will have to participate in the implementation of the project by granting State financial support for the implementation of the Premium Aerotech investment, in accordance with the provisions of Government Decision no. 1680/2008. Such support would aggregate eligible costs in the amount of 43 million EUR.