Austrian investments in Romania exceed seven billion Euros

Austrian direct investments have exceeded seven billion Euros last year, and Austrian companies last year employed almost 70,000 people, according to data sent by the Vienna Stock Exchange yesterday.

Last year, Austria exported goods and services with a total value of 1.68 billion Euros, and its imports from Romania have amounted to 996 million Euros.

"Bilateral trade relations are in full expansion. Austria is the largest foreign investor in Romania and for many Austrian companies, Romania is the stepping stone towards the East, in particular in the Black Sea region", according to data from the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Austrian companies already have a history in Romania. Major Austrian companies do business here, such as the "OMV" group, which, in July 2004, acquired the majority stake in "Petrom" and hired over 60,000 people, "Erste Bank", which won the bid for a stake of 61.88% of "Banca Comercială Română" (BCR) in 2005, and "Strabag", which recently won a contract for the construction of a highway in Romania, worth about 166 million Euros.

"These companies provide investments, pay taxes and often times turn companies that have been losing money to profitability", according to data from the Vienna Stock Exchange.

The available opportunities for cooperation, exports and investments in Romania are still huge and there are plenty of good reasons why Romania is considered an excellent investment opportunity for Austrian companies, the communiqué of the Vienna Stock Exchange states.