THE ROMANIAN CENTER FOR PROMOTING TRADE AND FOREIGN INVESTMENTS: We have the potential to concentrate the auto industry in the region

Even now, in the midst of the economic crisis, the car and car parts industry still offers business opportunities for foreign investors, allowing them to get good profit margins, the officials of the Romanian Center for Promoting Trade and Foreign Investments (CRPCIS) said. According to them, the car industry, even though it is currently faced with certain turbulences due to the economic international context, it will soon become one of the economy"s top sectors, because Romania has not yet reached its potential in this sector. "We are confident that once the economic crisis will have been overcome, on a regional level, Romania will remain a cluster for the car parts industry", the representatives of the CRPCIS said.

Cristian Pârvan, the secretary general of the Association of Romanian Businesspeople (AOAR), considers that companies operating in the car parts industry have seen significant growth lately, making "all sorts of car parts, including software" and that this sector has a certain level of attractiveness.

However, he said that "Romania should be more careful in selecting foreign investors, considering that most foreign investments in Romania so far have been speculative, compared to other countries, which have also made products for export".

Cristian Pârvan said that the car parts sector also uses unskilled labor, which "is not a solution in the long run" and that is why he considers that the importance of this segment should be increasingly reduced.

Infrastructure is another segment of interest for those looking for growth and profits, as this was a priority segment for Romania, which will attract a significant chunk of the investments of the government in the near future, the management of the CRPCIS added.

IT&C is another sector which has the potential to attract foreign investments, considering that Romania is known all over the world for its experts in the field, as Romanian is the second most frequently used language at Microsoft, after English.

Unconventional energy, in particular wind energy, bio-diesel, and solar energy, including the equipment for its generation, represent other areas of interest for foreign investors. Romania ranks 21st in the "Top 30 most attractive countries for investing in renewable energy" chart, published by "Ernst&Young".

Other sectors with a high potential in attracting direct foreign investments are: the oil segment - equipment for the oil industry, metallurgy, electrical appliances and electronics, construction materials, road infrastructure, pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, tourism, consumer goods, services.

The representatives of the CRPCIS said that they want Romania "to keep its position as the main beneficiary of foreign investments in South-Eastern Europe and one of the most important in the region", and said they have "confidence that Romania will remain attractive for major projects, next year".

Nevertheless, the representatives of the CRPCIS consider that making estimates for next year"s investment volume would be premature, given the "fragile economic international context, marked by increased financial volatility, low risk appetite, as well as the chance of the continuation of the current crisis or of the beginning of a new one".

The Romanian Center for Promoting Trade and Foreign Investments (CRPCIS) is the public institution which is subordinated to the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment, which implements the Government"s policy on promoting and developing trade, as well as in the segment of promoting and attracting direct foreign investments.