Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the United States Government agency for supporting American investment abroad, has chosen Romania for a regional conference to be held between March 9-11, 2004 and intended to attract American companies to the Central and Eastern Europe, Lawrence Spinelli, OPIC's communication manager on Tuesday announced.
The conference will bring together the representatives of 50-70 American groups interested to invest in the region, business people and managers of the major companies in the 15 states targeted, as well as officials of the US Government or of the governments of the 15 countries. The list of attendees will also include representatives of the international financial institutions like the World Bank or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
"The interest of the American companies in the Central and Eastern Europe has visibly increased over the last few years, so that the US Government decided to organise such a conference to bring American investors closer to the opportunities in the region. The fact that we chose Bucharest for this conference says it all about the special interest in Romania," Spinelli stated.
The American official on Tuesday met with Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana to work out the details of the organisation of the conference.
American corporate investment in Romania has been practically second to none thus far compared with countries in the Central Europe like Poland and Hungary.
Whereas investments of American companies (such as General Electric) in Hungary are worth billions of dollars, most American groups in Romania have settled for selling as much as possible to the Romanian State only.
The interest of the American companies in Romania and the countries in the region has increased after the NATO invited them to join this year and the United States realised it needs allies that are geographically close to the Middle East. Romania's NATO accession will entail significant expenses for retooling the army and the related fields, i.e. purchases of military technology and equipment, an industry that sees the American companies among the world leaders.
Add the expenses for upgrading the infrastructure in Romania (highways, utilities, transports) and you get a multi-billion dollar market over the next few years.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro
