ROMANIA-RUSSIA: THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY PRAHOVA HAS OPENED A REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN MOSCOW The market of the Russian Federation is very important for Romanian businesspeople

• Interview with Mr. Aurelian Gogulescu, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Prahova

Reporter: What is your opinion concerning the Romanian-Russian relationships at this moment?

Aurelian Gogulescu: The market of the Russian Federation, with its 142 million inhabitants, is very important for Romanian businesspeople.

Romania had a significant tradition when it comes to the export of goods to this market, exports which consisted of equipment for the oil industry, furniture, fast moving consumer goods, foodstuffs, household appliances etc.

Given the tradition of economic cooperation with Russia, on one hand, and the extended economic crisis which we are currently going through, there is a need for identifying the potential business partners for the Romanian companies, on the Russian market, at this moment.

Right now, even if the volume of Romanian exports to the Russian market, as well as their structure has changed a lot, the potential remains great, because Russia is a country with an emerging economy and it is imperiously necessary to restart our bilateral economic relations, in order to shift the weight of our trade balance towards our exports, to help the Romanian companies.

Reporter: How are you cooperating with the Informational -Economic Russian Balkan Agency? What concrete steps were taken to develop the Romanian-Russian relations?

Aurelian Gogulescu: Last year, in October, we had the chance of signing with the Informational -Economic Russian Balkan Agency a partnership agreement based on which we opened a representative office of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (C.C.I.) Prahova in Moscow. This represents a first at the level of the Romanian chamber of trade system, being the first representative office in the Russian Federation. The official signing of the agreement though which the representative office of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Prahova was created, occurred at the closing of the works of the Intergovernmental Romanian-Russian Commission for Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation.

Recently in the beginning of March this year, the visit to Romania of the President of the Informational -Economic Russian Balkan Agency, hosted by C.C.I. Prahova, with a complex schedule of meetings and discussions, where new directions were discussed, in order to allow for better cooperation within the representative office. We have constant communication and cooperation with the representatives of the Agency, and the results quickly began to show. First of all, many important Romanian companies have joined the IT portal owned by the agency, which represents a common information space for companies in Russia, Romania and the states of the Balkan Peninsula, with a database of 2,400,000 companies in 12 countries - potential partners for the companies of the county of Prahova and Romania. As for the concrete results, we are already talking about a collaboration between a Romanian company of the county of Prahova which manufactures paper wrapping and a Russian partner.

Reporter: Are Romanian companies interested in the Russian market? In what areas? How is this representative office helping them in the penetration of the Russian market?

Aurelian Gogulescu: The interest of Romanian companies in the market of the Russian Federation is significant, as proven by the questionnaires intended to gauge the interest for mutual economic cooperation, which we have drafted and sent to numerous companies of the county of Prahova and the rest of Romania. Feedback was positive, confirming the interest of Romanian companies in initiating and conducting trade relations between Romania and Russia, because so far we have received about 100 intentions for cooperation from all over the country, for the following areas of interest:

- Romanian exports of: machinery and equipment for the oil and natural gas industry, cables, welded parts, labor safety equipment, paint, primers, carpentry, construction materials, confections, household use products, wine, foodstuffs, canned fruit and vegetables, cold cuts, honey, plastic and paper wrappings, drugs for veterinary use;

- imports of: miscellaneous installations, synthetic rubber, carbon black, raw materials for making cast iron and brass, various substances and chemical products;

- collaborations in the oil product sector, associations and partnerships for the growth of various businesses, financing for the development of logistics activities, grain processing, etc.; subcontracting of lathed parts.

This reaction caused us to launch an economic mission in the Russian Federation, scheduled to take place between May 27th - June 3rd 2012. The agenda of this mission is complex and includes business forums, bilateral meetings, visits with the companies in the Moscow area, as well as Vladimir and Smolensk. This mission is in fact one in a long string of 3 economic missions which we want to host this year in the Russian Federation.

I want to mention that the direct involvement in the mission is extremely important, as the direct business talks between the future partners are also essential, especially since we have received from our Russian partners a list of many Russian firms which are interested in cooperating with Romanian companies. The Russian companies are from Moscow, as well as from other regions of the Russian Federation and they have already expressed their intentions to cooperate with Romanian companies, in areas such as: the import of foodstuffs and fast moving consumer goods, sanitary fixtures, apparel, as well as the export to the Romanian market of plastic products, construction materials, timber, etc.

Reporter: How are you cooperating with the Romanian authorities towards developing the Romanian-Russian exchanges?

Aurelian Gogulescu: During the recent visit to Romania, the president of the Informational -Economic Russian Balkan Agency had meetings with the Romanian officials, on a local level - the Prefect of Prahova County, and the President of the County Council of Prahova, - and at a central level, with the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment. The Romanian officials were extremely supportive and showed willingness in developing the bilateral relations and cooperation. The county officials have accepted the proposal to sign a regional level Agreement to extend economic cooperation into to the cultural and social level.

Reporter: Thank you!