Industrialists and Business People Show Great Interest in Romania Country Day of ICI

• 06.09.2018
• News

Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) organized Romania Country Day to increase reciprocal economic cooperation and investment between Türkiye and Romania. The event that took place in Odakule was hosted by ICI Board Member Mustafa Tacir, and honored by Romanian Ambassador to Ankara Gabriel Şopanda. During the event, a lot of industrialists and business people got the chance to be informed about the opportunities in Romania.

ICI Board Member Mustafa Tacir made a speech during the event and stated that the Strategic Partnership Document signed in December 2011 as a result of the mutual will to improve the relations between two countries raised the relations to a new level. Tacir reminded that the Action Plan for the execution of this Strategic Partnership Document was signed in March 2013. Mentioning the reflection of these friendly relations and close political dialogs to high senior level visit traffic, Tacir mentioned the March 2015 Romania visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

ICI Board Member Mustafa Tacir

Stating that Türkiye is the largest partner of Romania among non-EU member countries, and fifth largest trade partner among all, Tacir described the 2017 trade volume of approximately 5.6 billion dollars as way below the actual potential and declared their goal to increase this to 10 billion dollars in short term.

Tacir stated that there are almost 14 thousand Turkish companies operating in Romania, which is an attractive country for the investors due to its location on important transit lines, trained workforce and developed infrastructure. Tacir said that Türkiye is the third country with the highest number companies in Romania. Listing the main lines of activity of these Turkish capital firms in Romania as banking, construction, securities, food processing and production, plastic material production, packaging, forest products, electrical goods manufacturing, transportation, tourism and domestic and foreign trade, Tacir mentioned the opportunity provided by Romania to its investors as a part of European Common Market: expanding their operations to all EU countries.

Tacir underlined the importance of Costanza Port of Romania, one of the largest ports of Europe, as a gate allowing Turkish goods to both enter into the Romanian market and expand to the European Common Market. Naming Romania as Türkiye's Black Sea neighbor even tough there is no physical border between two countries, Tacir expressed the necessity to improve the trade relations further since they have a much greater potential and to assess the regional opportunities together.

Romanian Ambassador to
Ankara Gabriel Şopanda

Gabriel Şopanda, Romanian Ambassador to Ankara, talked about their historical relations with Türkiye. Mentioning the dynamic and stable economy of Romania, Şopanda stated that they had celebrated the 140th year of their relations in 2018. Declaring an increase in the trade volume between two countries, Şopanda said that reciprocal trade will have contributions to both parties. Underlining the great talent of industrialists and business people in revealing new opportunities, Şopanda named the task of states as paving the way and supporting with resources.

Şopanda stated that Romania is one of the highest growing countries of EU, and named Romania as a very suitable environment for investment adding that the unemployment and inflation rates are low in the country. Mentioning the advantageous facility costs and labor costs in addition to the state incentives for the investors, Şopanda stated that the financial stability in the country is also a positive factor for investment. Şopanda reminded that they have been living in the same region with Türkiye for centuries. "If you have ideas, knock our door so we can talk." said Şopanda.

Former Romanian Commercial
Counselor Mükerrem Aksoy

Mükerrem Aksoy, Former Romanian Commercial Counselor, who talked at the panel titled "Cooperation and Investment Opportunities in Romania", said that Romania is the only EU country to drill oil and natural gas. Naming the failure to correctly comprehend Romania as a factor in low foreign trade volumes with Romania, Aksoy said that precautions must be taken against the cash VAT payment in customs and lack of stocking mentality in the Romanian trade culture. Reminding that the companies established in Romania can benefit from EU support, Aksoy provided the information that the registered 14 thousand Turkish firms have a total capital value of 6 billion Euro.

Ankara Romanian Embassy
Trade and Economy Counselor
Corneliu Diaconita

Corneliu Diaconita, Trade and Economy Counselor of Ankara Romanian Embassy, took the stage at the same panel and said that it is meaningful for this meeting to be held by ICI, given that Istanbul is the center of private sector and almost 80 percent of the trade relations are for industrial products. Diaconita said that Romania grew 6.9 percent in 2017, the highest rate in EU, and underlined the importance of the familiarity between Türkiye and Romania in trade relations. Diaconita mentioned the constantly increasing international investments as a proof for the suitability of the investment environment.

Following the speeches and presentations, another panel titled "Experiences of Turkish Companies in Romanian Market" was moderated by ICI Deputy Secretary General Haktan Akın. Panel participants Ali Rıza Alaboyun - Chairman of Bera Holding, Turgay Aytekin - General Manager of Superlit Boru Sanayi, Dr. Hüseyin Güler - Strategy and Business Development Director of Kastamonu Entegre, and Hakan Aytekin - Assistant Group Coordinator for Business Development and Project Finance, Alarko Holding, shared their business and investment experiences in Romania with the audience, and answered their questions.