ECONOMIC FORUM / MIHAI IONESCU, ANEIR: "We are a colony for the Chinese"

The commercial exchanges between Romania and China are shameful for Romania, says Mihai Ionescu, the secretary general of the Romanian National Association of Exporters and Importers (ANEIR), who said: "They sell us devices they manufacture for all the foreign brands, toys, textile cheap goods, while we sell them raw materials, scrap iron, lumber. The exchanges we have with them are disgraceful, we are a colony to the Chinese".

In his opinion, our only chance is for the Chinese to invest in Romania: "The same way that we have succeeded to reduce the trade deficit with Russia through their investments in Romania, we have the same chance if we convince the Chinese to make massive investments on our market, from where they would export to China, as well as to other countries".

A few days ago, the officials of the two countries signed 13 memorandums for cooperation, with a total value of 8.5 billion Euros.

In this context, the businesspeople are rather skeptical that the value of the major partnerships with China would be that high. Cristian Pârvan, the secretary general of the Association of Romanian Businesspeople in Romania (AOAR), wanted to say that the foreign investments made last year in the European Union only amount to 3.5 billion Euros, of which 90% were made in the EU15 group.

He said: "We can't say that today's event (ed. note: the China-Central and Eastern Europe Economic Forum, which took place yesterday in Bucharest) is a negative thing, but things need to be reviewed with a lot more caution and a lot less optimism. A country can not replace the work and the ideas of its citizens with others coming from other countries. It is a completely simplistic solution in the thinking of a country. I want to emphasize that in 1980 Romania built a turnkey coal-based co-generation plant. 30 years later, the Chinese come to Romania to build us such a project ...".

The importance of the event which was held yesterday needs to be implemented differently, according to Ionel Blănculescu, honorary advisor to Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

"What is happening today (ed. note: yesterday) is a strategic moment in the evolution of Romania, where two visions are converging - two young people who are prime ministers (ed. note: Victor Ponta, Romanian prime-minister and Li Keqiang, the Chinese prime-minister).

The vision of our prime-minister is focused on reconnecting our country with its traditional markets. This entails, first of all, an initiation. Today (ed. note: yesterday) is the moment of initiation. It has come to this moment because of the compatibility between the two officials and the relations between the two countries".

According to Mr. Blănculescu, we need to dismantle the idea that "contracts will be concluded tomorrow". For now, a framework has been created, and Romania has presented its investment projects, which is something we have failed to do so far, said Ionel Blănculescu, who stressed: "There are major energy projects, in infrastructure, agriculture, amounting to 8.5 billion Euros, which are now coming into the operational phase (negotiation, achievement of compatibility etc.) and which we hope will also lead to concrete results".

Ionel Blănculescu mentioned that both Chinese and Arab investors usually request guarantees from the state for the investments they plan to make in Romania, but that the Romanian authorities will comply with the rules of the EU, which do not allow the granting of this kind of guarantees.

He said: "We need to dismantle the myth that the People's Republic of China is sitting on a mountain of cash, which they are ready to invest in Romania without any conditions. The businesses which the Chinese will develop in Romania have to be profitable, both sides have to benefit from them".

Mr. Blănculescu considers that the moment we get Chinese investments in Romania, we will definitely have a bank with Chinese capital come over here.

Recently, Gabriel Ghelmegeanu, the president of the Romanian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was saying that the Bank for Development of China may be interested in entering Romania through a subsidiary. However, he says that no such bank will open a branch in Romania until there are serious Chinese businesses and investments in Romania.

Achim Irimescu, secretary of state in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), was saying that three Chinese investors could be interested in investing in the rehabilitation of the Romanian irrigation infrastructure, which is why a Chinese bank could enter the domestic market.

A few months ago, the Romanian ambassador in Beijing, Doru Costea was saying that by the end of the year, China Development Bank could open a branch in Romania.

In this context, Gabriel Ghelmegeanu said: "Statements are easy to make, but the economy is based on different things, not on talk and wishes. In Romania we have Libra Bank, which has a Chinese correspondent bank, is doing very good business with China, and recently opened an agency in the Red Dragon commercial complex. It serves those who need banking relations with China. Once the major corporations come and start major projects in Romania, then we will probably see the China Development Bank, the Bank for Agriculture or that of Construction".

According to him, the issues concerning visas, which the Chinese have when they try to come to Romania, have become prevalent last year.

"The law is well designed, and if it were complied with, there wouldn't be that kind of problems, but it isn't being complied with, and it is not being implemented appropriately. Chinese citizens who want to come to Romania are being put into a room and interrogated. They are being asked on why they come to Romania, how many days they plan to stay, why their stay is as long as it is, who they are meeting with...", said Gabriel Ghelmegeanu, who thinks that we need a governmental strategy for developing the relations between our country and the People's Republic of China.

At the end of October 2013, in Romania there were 10,878 companies registered with Chinese shareholders, in other words over 5% of the total number of companies with foreign shareholders in Romania, according to data from the National Registry of the Trade Office (ONRC), reported by Agerpres.

According to Sun Chenghai, the head of the Department for the Development of Trade in the Ministry of Trade of China, the value of commercial exchanges between Romania and China has reached 2.9 billion dollars, in the first nine months of 2013, up 1.5% over the similar period of 2012.