WHEREAS GREEK IMPORTS SHRANK, Romania"s exports to Greece have increased

Commercial exchanges between Romania and Greece increased 30% YOY in Q1 2011, Claudiu Stafie, secretary of state in the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment, said in a Greek-Romanian forum. While overall, Greece"s imports fell 17% over 2009, amid the economic crisis, Romania saw its exports to Greece increase 6.5%. Romania"s exports to Greece and imports from it increased, according to Konstantinos Papadopoulos, secretary general on Economic International Relations and Cooperation for Development, in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said that Greece"s sales in Romania have increased 27% last year, compared to 2009. Overall, Greece"s exports increased 31.5% during the reviewed period.

The Greek official said that exiting from the recession is based on the focusing of the business sector abroad, as the recovery of exports is the foundation of healthy economic growth: "The raise of exports looks it puts the brake on the reduction of the GDP. After the latter fell for a long time, its downward trend subsided, and it has seen a slight growth".

Present at the forum yesterday, Karolos Papoulias, the president of Greece, was extremely happy with the progress that the two states have experienced, both as to what concerns the economic relations, hoping that their intensification is one of Greece"s objectives: "The crisis should represent an opportunity for Romania and Greece to cooperate. Our presence in the Balkans means over 5,000 companies and banks, with a total share capital of 12 billion Euros. Especially in Romania, Greek investors contribute to its development, creating so far 25,000 jobs, in sectors such as telecom, tourism. food, banks, construction, services etc.".

The representative of the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment said he hopes that soon, the volume of commercial exchanges between the two countries would exceed the figure of 4.1 billion Euros, which peaked in 2008. 4,956 Greek companies operate in Romania, with a share capital of 1.9 billion Euros. Thus, Greece is the fifth largest investor in Romania. Mr. Stafie said that areas such as energy, infrastructure, the auto industry, pharma, agriculture and tourism will be promoted in order to attract new investors.

Greek businesspeople present in the forum stressed the issues that they are faced with in Romania since the Greek crisis began. The main obstacle is the authorities" wariness of Greek companies in state calls for bids. Other hurdles which impede the growth of Greek investments in Romania include the customs and fiscal system, as well as the country"s precarious infrastructure.