NO ROMANIAN DIGNITARIES AT THE CHINESE EXHIBITION AT THE TIB The authorities are ambivalent about China

• The Chinese still seem to be patient with us

• The local authorities are better at pleading their cause

• The Chinese will pick three major projects to invest in

No minister or secretary of state attended the inauguration of the CET exhibition (China Engineering and Technology) yesterday, at the Bucharest International Technical Fair (TIB), even though, on a declarative level, the Government is interested in China's billions of dollars.

The organizer of the CET fair (which hasn't attended the TIB over the last few years) is CHINCA (a Chinese professional association of the largest Chinese construction companies), under the high professional patronage of the Chinese Ministry of Trade. The Chinese took one step forward and came to Romania with an impressive delegation of 100 officials and representatives of the big Chinese companies, encouraged by the recent visits of the delegated ministers for the business environment (Lucian Isar and Mihai Voicu).

At first, the minister of Transports, Ovidiu Silaghi, as well as the delegated minister for the business sector, Mihai Voicu, enthusiastically confirmed they would attend the event. Just as the event was about to occur, the two changed their mind, claiming they had to attend yesterday's government meeting.

The management of the Romanian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (ARACO), which co-organized the CET fair with CHINCA, sent prime-minister Victor Ponta a letter requesting the mandating of one of the two ministers to welcome the Chinese and to send them an official message from the Romanian authorities. The letter yielded no result. The Ministry of Transports was not represented by anyone yesterday, and the Minister of the Economy sent in advisor Andrei Pogonaru, Radu Zaharia - head of the international relations department and Dan Simion, the general manager of the Romanian Center for Promoting Trade and Foreign Investments.

The Chinese appear to still have patience when it comes to Romania, even though our authorities are ambivalent about China. Liu Qiwei, economic and trade adviser, said: "The numerous high-level bilateral actions, as well as the contacts between institutions and companies, were successful, especially the recent visits of ministers Isar and Voicu, as well as the visit of Agriculture minister Daniel Constantin".

"These meetings have considerably boosted the bilateral relations. The potential for economic cooperation between Romania and China is huge, and the two countries have become increasingly confident in their cooperation. We encourage Chinese companies to invest in Romania and we also encourage Romanian companies to invest in China".

Andrei Pogonaru announced that, at the meeting of the joint Chinese-Romanian commission of October 25th-27th, three major projects will be selected in which China can get involved through financing and through Chinese companies, a project which would be the backbone of the economic cooperation between the two countries. He said that the Ministry of the Economy hopes that the Romanian-Chinese projects will lead to concrete results in the near future and that he supports any cooperation project: "We await with interest the opening in Bucharest of a branch of the Bank of China and the launch of a direct flight between the capitals of Romania and China".

Mrs. Yu Xiaohong, the secretary general of CHINCA, presented an optimistic message from the Chinese Ministry of China. The Chinese officials are hoping that the two countries would cooperate on three concrete projects in the near future.

She emphasized: "The concept on the ownership of projects is changing all over the world. We have a lot of public-private partnerships, where the owner of the project isn't the one funding it. This form of investment brings a lot more efficiency to state investments and more money for companies".

Much better represented at the CET event were the local authorities, especially those in the Oltenia Development Region, which presented over 100 projects to the Chinese companies. The representatives of the five counties consider that the smaller projects, of regional interest, can be more easily implemented in association with Chinese investors.

The county of Prahova was also well represented, through its Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which has a long-standing tradition of commercial relations with China.

Also praised by Chinese investors is the mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu. He did not attend yesterday's event, but he sent in representatives, and over the last few days, he had intense talks with the representatives of the Shanghai Urban Construction Group (SUCG) of China, which wants to get involved in the construction of the suspended highway, which will cost 1.5 billion Euros. Diplomatic sources claim that the Chinese company wants to find out why the estimated cost of the highway has doubled, and how the investment will be recouped (public funds or usage fee). The same sources also said that the initial plan was to build the highway on pillars, but it would appear that because of the environmental impact, a significant part of the route will be underground, which requires a bigger investment.

The same sources also said that the three major projects will be picked from among the Tarniţa hydroelectric plant, the Reactors 3 and 4 of Cernavodă, the Siret - Bărăgan canal, several highway segments, as well as the modernization of the existing thermoelectric plants.