ROMÂNIA-CHINA A direct airline would develop tourism between Romania and China

• Interview with Nicolae Vasilescu, the president of the Romanian-Chinese House

Reporter: How did our relations with the Popular Republic of China evolve lately?

Nicolae Vasilescu: We are on a good path and I hope that the coming period will also bring us some concrete results. For now I will settle for this remark.

Reporter: Is there interest from Chinese investors for our market?

Nicolae Vasilescu: We have to note that there is indeed an interest in investments. But they are equally interested in all the countries in Europe. If they knock on open doors, it's all OK. If the door they knock on is closed, then they move on.

Reporter: What areas in our countries are the most interesting for Chinese investors?

Nicolae Vasilescu: I couldn't say that there are some areas which are of fundamental interest. But I did note that lately, Romania has been visited by important Chinese companies operating in the area of the so-called green energy.

Reporter: What are the projects around which there have been talks between the Romanian and the Chinese party in order to launch new investments?

Nicolae Vasilescu: There have been numerous discussions, starting with the reactor of Cernavodă, the bridge of Brăila, the plant of Turceni, the ring road of Bucharest and lots of others, more or less publicized. Unfortunately, many of them didn't go beyond the talks stage.

Reporter: What do you think should be changed in Romania, both when it comes to the legislative framework, as well as to the political and economic environment, to make Romania an attractive country for the Chinese investors?

Nicolae Vasilescu: It's simple. First of all, legislatively speaking, we need to adopt the Bulgarian model, when it comes to allowing access in Romania to Chinese investors without a Romanian visa, which have a Schengen visa. Last year, Hungary granted the Chinese over 120,000 visas, and Romania only 11,000. Second of all, we should stop asking companies which make investments to have a minimum number of employees. It is clear that the big investors will create jobs and I find it degrading to tell them they are only allowed here if they create at least 10 jobs. What we also need to change is our attitude. We keep showing them all sorts of beautifully colored projects which cost millions of Euro, they browse through the documentation, they express their interest in those projects, but none of those projects has a page where it clearly says how they are going to get their money back. Nobody invests without having a profit.

Reporter: How open is the government to our cooperation with the Chinese?

Nicolae Vasilescu: At this current moment, very open. You can tell there is a good intention, but I have to insist that we should also have some concrete actions. There is a concrete inter-ministry council dedicated to the cooperation with China, but it is premature to talk about these results.

China can soon become a tourist destination for Romanians, despite the fact that the prices are not that low. Maybe, if we succeed in reopening a direct airline to China, the tourism exchange between the two countries will further develop.

Reporter: Thank you!