Romania needs to regain trust say German and Austrian investors

Newsroom 28/09/2012 | 12:49

The political events this summer have affected Romania’s image abroad and the authorities need to promote the country as an investment destination more professionally, said German and Austrian company representatives present at the 4th edition of the German – Austrian Investment Forum organized by Business Review this Thursday.

The picture that German investors doing business locally have of Romania is not shared by those back in Germany, where news about the country are mostly negative, said participants to the event.

“Political relations between Romania and the rest of Europe went through a difficult phase this summer. It reaffirmed the need to talk and explain things (…). There is a lot of need to explain what is going on in Romania. The perception of Romania in Germany is probably worse than necessary,” said Sonja Kreibich, economic and commercial counselor with the German Embassy in Bucharest.

“On the other hand I often get the feedback that we really need to distinguish between political perception and the true attractiveness of Romania as place to invest. And many companies say they know about political instability but they don’t depend on who’s in government right now,” she added.

Romania remains an attractive investment destination for many of those already doing business here but there is a clear need to better promote the country in order to bring new investors and face competition coming from neighboring countries, said participants.