Ambassador Tanya van Gool of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will open a new Consulate in Constanta on July 6 2010. The good cooperation between the Netherlands and Romania in the field of economy and trade, defence and (harbour) police contributed to the decision of the Netherlands Government to open a Consulate in Constanta.
The honorary consul for the Netherlands will be Mr. Dan Coman who is Country Manager Romania and Serbia at AkzoNobel.
Since 2003 the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has one operational consulate in Timisoara and soon expects to open a new consulate in Cluj Napoca. The existence of three consulates in Romania emphasises the good bilateral relations between the two countries and confirms the growing Dutch interest in Romania, especially in economic field. The Netherlands already is the biggest foreign investor in Romania, with more than 4,5 billion euro invested until now, representing almost one fifth of the total foreign investments made in Romania.
The decision to open a new consulate in Constanta is consistent with the growing interest of the Dutch companies active in the logistics & infrastructure, water, environment and energy sectors. The Netherlands believe that Romania has the potential of becoming a trade hub for Central and Eastern Europe while the Port of Constanta could become its gateway.
The main purpose of the consulates is to represent the Netherlands in their respective counties and to further strengthen the relations in various fields of bilateral interest. Also consular assistance is provided by the consulates (for visa and passport matters citizens are referred to the Dutch Embassy in Bucharest).
The Dutch ambassador is said to be 'honoured to have Dutch presence throughout Romania and looks forward to fruitful collaboration in business, police, NGO's and cultural institutions'.
On July 7, Ambassador Van Gool will visit Galati. She will meet the local authorities and will visit the Dutch owned company Damen Shipyard.
Note: Ambassador Van Gool is available for interviews on July 6.
Enclosed you will find the invite for the opening reception: Restaurant Domino, Str. Mircea cel Batran nr. 105 between 13.00 and 15.00 hrs. Dress code: formal
Business Review, Interview, June 28, 2010
Dutch investors target Romanian health sector
Pioneering Dutch investors came to Romania as early as the beginning of the nineties and are now present in all the main local industries. As for future trends, Dutch companies are still finding business opportunities in industry, logistics, infrastructure and energy and taking a particular interest in the local healthcare sector, says Hans Smaling, counselor for economy and trade and chief of department with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bucharest.
By Simona Bazavan
For many years Holland has held a – if not the – top position in the list of foreign investors to Romania. How do you explain this situation?
The Netherlands entered the Romanian market quite rapidly after the fall of communism in 1989, therefore commercial relations between the two countries developed extremely well during the 1990s. In 2005 bilateral trade was eight times greater than in 1989.
Looking at investments, during the last few years Dutch investors’ interest has continued to increase. However in terms of the numbers of new companies established with Dutch capital we have seen some stabilization. This is because Dutch investors have already been represented on the Romanian market for a long time, and have always been among the biggest foreign direct investors in the last decade. In the past few years the share of Dutch investments in Romania, as part of total FDI, was around 18 percent. Looking at the last two years of economic downturn, we can see that Dutch investments in Romania totalled more than EUR 1 billion. This amount represents approximately one quarter of the total Dutch investments so far.
How much did Dutch-owned companies invest in Romania last year and how did it compare to 2008?
Based on the statistics of the National Office of the Trade Register, at the end of 2008 there were 3,456 companies with Dutch capital registered in Romania (2.16 percent of the total). Dutch investments made until the end of 2008 totalled EUR 4,016 billion (18.49 percent of the total).
At the end of 2009 we had 3,584 companies with Dutch capital registered in Romania (2.15 percent of the total), while the investments made until this date were EUR 4,065 billion (representing 16.11 percent of the total foreign investments made in Romania).
Looking at the latest developments we are glad to see that despite the economic crisis, at the end of February 2010, the number of companies with Dutch capital had increased to 3669 (2.19 percent of the total), while the total sum of Dutch investments in Romania reached EUR 4,665 billion (18.02 percent of the total foreign investments made in the country).
How do you see future Dutch investment projects to Romania? Can you give any names or mention industries where they might be coming from?
We cannot give detailed business information, but we certainly see possibilities for more Dutch investments in Romania in industry, logistics & infrastructure and energy. There is also keen interest from the medical sector in Romania.
A lot depends on political will and commitment from the Romanian side.
What do you consider to be the opportunities of the Romanian business environment for investors from Holland?
For Dutch investors the Romanian market is interesting due to its size and strategic location. In addition, successful operations in Romania can offer good perspectives to expand the activity to other countries in the region. Also, the workforce in Romania is well educated, foreign languages are well spoken compared with other countries in the region, while labour costs still offer comparative advantages.
Finally, there is a variety of niches that are not sufficiently developed yet and which have a lot of potential, for example renewable energy and the organic food industry.
There are many sectors of great interest, but the Netherlands is focussing for the moment on: logistics & infrastructure, water, environment and energy. We believe that Romania has the potential to become a trade hub for Central and Eastern Europe while the port of Constanta could become its gateway. There is a need for the development of the port of Constanta and the Danube ports, better navigability conditions on the Danube and investments in water management. In these sectors we are quite happy with the activities of the two public private partnerships between the Ministry of Economy from the Netherlands and Dutch companies active in these fields in Romania: the European Gateway Platform (EGP) and the Netherlands Water Platform (NWP) respectively. Their objective is to promote Dutch expertise in Romania and stimulate new investments.
From your contact with Dutch companies, what should the Romanian authorities do to help foreign investors?
In general we believe that investors appreciate political stability a good (macro) economic environment and transparency and predictability of regulations. A one-stop investment office would also greatly help to reduce the time taken for investors to start a company.
The importance of investing in road, rail and naval transportation in the context of intermodality is also evident. In addition there is a need for simplified fiscal regulations in terms of VAT collection (i.e. custom warehouses).
In June/July 2010 the Netherlands Aerospace Group (NAG), the national trade association for the aerospace industry, following the request of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs, has organised a tour through Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Austria, aiming to introduce the Dutch aerospace industry and to meet potential business partners. On each of the 10 different locations visited, with support from the local national aerospace associations and the chambers of commerce, business-to-business meetings (match-making), company visits and network receptions were organised, giving the participating Dutch companies the opportunity to obtain valuable information concerning the local aerospace industry and to meet potential business partners. Partly as a marketing tool, partly as a meeting point and partly as a sort central command centre a truck/trailer combination was used and positioned at the site locations.
The first aerospace centre visitedin Romania was Bacau, on 24th of June, with the participation of five companies from the Netherlands. The programme, attended by Her Excellency Mrs. Tanya van Gool, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, included visits to the company Aerostar and the Chamber of Commerce Bacau, where several other meetings took place.
The second and last stop of the road show in Romania was Bucharest. On 25th of June the six Dutch participating companies visited the company Romaero. This event was opened by Mr. Hans Smaling, Economic and Commercial counsellor of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands organized the first National Flower Arrangement Contest on 28 April 2010 at in Bucharest, with the support of Business Development Group, Radisson Blu Hotel, KLM, Weerman Flowers, Remco, Holland Farming and the Florists Only magazine. The contest was preceded by a flower arrangement demonstration performed by master florist Bart van der Elsken and was opened by Her Excellency Mrs. Tanya van Gool, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The event was meant to contribute to the professionalisation of the flower sector, to reward the artistic qualities of Romanian florists and to promote at the same time the use of flowers in our everyday life. Around 40 professional florists from all over Romania competed for the title, which was won by Mrs. Madalina Lazar of Madalina Mocanu Design.
EU Funds for Rural Development: the tentative calendar and fund allocation of the calls for projects in 2010 is available here.
New measures launched within the Operational Programme for Fisheries 2007-2013
The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced the launching on the 26th of March of two important financing measures for the fish sector: Measure 2.1 Productive investment in aquaculture and Measure 2.6 Investments in processing and marketing. The funds are available from the European Fishery Fund. The call for proposals is a continuous one until the end of this year. Beneficiaries can be micro enterprises or SMEs (in which case the own contribution of the applicant is 40% of the total eligible costs of the project) or even larger companies - however with maximum 750 employees or a turnover of less than 200 million eur - (in which case the own contribution of the applicant should be 70% of the eligible costs of the project). The maximum public contribution is 3 million eur per project.
International Biomass Valorisation Congress, 20-22 April 2010, Amsterdam
Following the success of the first Dutch Biomass Valorisation Congress which took place in the Netherlands on the 14th of May 2009, the organisers are pleased to announce an international successor of this congress to take place in Amsterdam on 20, 21 and 22 April 2010.
This edition of the International Biomass Valorisation congress will highlight the following themes:
20 April 2010: Training Course Biorefinery 21 April 2010:Workshop Cellulose Ethanol Workshop Regional Biomass Processing Workshop Biohydrogen
22 April 2010:Workshop Dimethyl Ether (DME) Workshop Pyrolysis Workshop Co-fermentation The congress brochure, programme and registration information are available on: www.biomass-valorisation.com
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has the intention to make an inventory of Romanian companies interested to enter into partnerships with Dutch companies in the water sector. Such partnerships could refer to forming of consortia for complex projects (in Romania or abroad), sale of innovative Dutch products on the Romanian market, joint ventures, etc. Interested companies are invited to fill in the FORM and return it by e-mail.
Closure of the NBSO in Cluj Napoca
Since the closure of the NBSO office in Cluj Napoca, companies can send their questions and/or requests for assistance to the Department for Economic and Environmental Affairs of the Embassy. See Contact section.
As far as it is allowed by the capacity of the Embassy the level of service towards the business community in Cluj Napoca will be maintained. In addition, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is taking the necessary measures needed for the opening of an Honorary Consulate in Cluj Napoca.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy Conference Senter Novem, the Netherlands Agency for Sustainable Development and Innovation, organised in Bucharest, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, an event on Romanian-Dutch cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The conference was opened on 9 December by H.E. Mrs. Tanya van Gool, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the network reception the past and future energy related cooperation was celebrated.
The several working sessions organised on 10 December gathered around 190 professionals working in sustainable energy and related fields, in Romania and the Netherlands. If you are interested in the presentations please send an e-mail to bkr-ea@minbuza.nl.
Dutch bring drinking and waste water solutions to rural Romania
From 6 to 9 October, a team of Dutch experts in decentralized drinking water and waste water treatment technology will visit Giurgiu (6 October), Calarasi (7 October), Buzau (8 October), and Ilfov (9 October) counties to demonstrate how even the most remote villages and residential areas could provide their residents with clean drinking water and waste water treatment without having to rely on a connection to a distant water purification or waste water treatment plant. The Dutch experts will meet with mayors, county councils, representatives of water companies, representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture, Regional Development and Education and real estate developers.
Romania is undergoing remarkable progress with regard to the upgrading of its drinking and waste water infrastructure.The focus is however on urban areas, which means that many remote rural areas will possibly miss out on the large scale water infrastructure upgrading effort. To fill this gap, Dutch experts use this four day road show to present innovative decentralized water technology solutions for rural and residential areas.
Looking at the Romanian geography with its remote rural areas and its numerous residential real estate developments and the efforts Romania is making to provide clean water for all its citizens and treat all domestic waste water, decentralized water technology solutions are a good alternative to central solutions. Two successful Dutch pilot projects in Teleorman county and Constanta county already prove this.
The roadshow is organized by the Netherlands Water Partnership (www.nwp.nl) and the Dutch Partners for Water Program (www.partnersvoorwater.nl) in cooperation with Business Development Group (www.bdgroup) and the Royal Netherlands Embassy and made possible with the support of local county councils.
New Counselor for Economy and Trade at the Embassy in Bucharest
In June 2009, Mr. Hans Smaling took office as Economic and Trade Counselor at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Romania. Mr. Smaling, a career diplomat, served before in Surinam, China, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Indonesia, and recently in Washington, USA. Mr. Smaling considers Romania a country in transition and a promising new member of the EU. He sees many opportunities and challenges ahead for bilateral economic cooperation, and business development, and looking forward to give his best.
