Romania"s exports head for the East

• The Ministry for the Business Environment has announced it is targeting exports towards

the Eastern Bloc following the drop in demand

in the Western countries which are affected by the crisis • The strategy also includes the creation of five centers intended to promote Romanian products in Moldova, Russia, Egypt, India and China

The drop in exports to the Western markets, which are affected by the crisis, has caused the Ministry for the Business Environment, to announce a strategy for the reorientation of our products to the emerging markets in the East, which are affected to a lesser degree by the economic and financial crisis.

The strategy provides the opening of five centers for promoting Romanian products in Kishinev, Moscow, Cairo, New Delhi and Beijing, (as part of a public-private partnership).

The cut in taxation and the simplification of the procedures for accessing European funds are the main goals of the Ministry for Small and Medium Enterprises and the Business Environment, Constantin Niţă, after the Ministry he is now heading has failed to attract even one single Euro in structural funds last year.

The Minister has explained yesterday, during the first meeting with the press, that he supports the reduction in taxes in the SME sector, as SMEs currently pay "96-97 taxes", which most business people feel are way too many.

Niţă added that he had talks with the Minister of Finance, Gheorghe Pogea, for cutting excessive taxation down to a bearable level - half of the currently existing number of taxes - with a final solution to be adopted in the future.

For funding SMEs, the government official said he has requested from his colleagues in the Government 0,4%-0,5% of the GDP, saying that one of his projects aims to create 50.000 jobs in the field, by having the state subsidize the social security contributions paid by employers when hiring a single person with a maximum salary of 1.000 lei, with an estimated impact on the budget of 90 million Euros.

The Minister added that he will pass a law to create a Fund for counter-guaranteeing loans for SMES and will ensure the creation within CEC Bank of a fund intended to improve funding access for SMEs.

Another decision made by the Ministry is to capitalize CEC Bank and Eximbank and have them fund SMEs, with Niţă opting for these funds to be accessible through the Ministry.

Other projects that the Minister spoke of include the development of industrial software parks.

On a different note, Niţă emphasized that "the Ministry has not attracted one single Euro in European funds", and further said that he intends to get involved in simplifying the procedures for accessing these funds, by reducing the number of documents needed and reducing the waiting time to 35-45 days.

The minister further clarified that he began a study which sampled 470 companies, which showed that 70% of the companies experience serious problems when it comes to exporting.

Niţă stated that he held talks with professional associations concerning the payment of VAT when collecting invoices, in order to help reinvigorate the business environment.