BBW Belgium roundtable & awards 2009 on 27 January 2009

“Romania and Belgium have a solid basis of experience and trust in order to face together the upcoming year 2009. The current international economic crisis is profound, and affects both our countries. Job creation is going to be the major challenge, and for that we have to avoid protectionism, because that is not a “solution”.�

“Romania and Belgium have a solid basis of experience and trust in order to face together the upcoming year 2009. The current international economic crisis is profound, and affects both our countries. Job creation is going to be the major challenge, and for that we have to avoid protectionism, because that is not a “solution”. As real partners, we have to study together the opportunities in the sectors that require investments anyway, regardless of the crisis, for instance, agro-industry, energy, environment, and see how we can finance investments, with or without European funds.

Governments will have to balance state aid against private initiative. The EU will remain essential in coordinating state interventions and new financial regulations, playing a decisive role as the major actor in international agreements, in order to rebuild confidence on a solid financial basis that avoids the mistakes and abuses of the past.

We’ll have to actively support the efforts of our business community to respond to the needs of the economy in 2009. In this, we’ll have to take advantage of the small scale of our enterprises, both Belgian and Romanian, that allows them to reduce the risks and to be flexible in responding to market opportunities. Our business people need to assess together the needs that go beyond the short-term private consumption we have witnessed over the past decade, and to provide answers to the present socio-economic needs, in harmony with the economic programs of the authorities”.

An extremely strong characteristic of Belgium’s investments in Romania is their variety: with textiles, printing, electronics, food and drinks, metallic structures, banking and leasing, chemicals, real estate, supermarkets, public lightning, engineering and electricity generation among those on a very long list.

In the presence of Ambassador H.E. Leo D'Aes and other key officials at this special BBW conference, leading company representatives will showcase their successes in these various sectors.

Major Belgian investments have been made in major cities in Romania.

Source: BBW