BusinessMin participates in first session of Romanian-Turkish Joint Economic and Trade Committee

Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship Stefan-Radu Oprea participated on Friday in the first session of the Romanian-Turkish Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) and had a meeting with Turkish Commerce Minister Ruhsar Pekan, having as main discussion topics the commercial cooperation, the investment opportunities and the economic cooperation, the Ministry for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship (MMACA) informs in a release sent to AGERPRES. According to MMACA, Stefan-Radu Oprea was on an official visit to Turkey on Friday, on which occasion the first session of Romanian-Turkish Joint Economic and Trade Committee and a bilateral business forum took place in Istanbul. The forum, organised by the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) and Romania's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, gathered 220 companies and representatives of the Turkish business environment and 30 companies of Romania. In the bilateral talks and in the first JETCO session, the Romanian official presented Romania's Government's strategy for the development of a favourable economic climate and for enhancing competitiveness, by intensifying international cooperation, supporting entrepreneurship, attracting investments, increasing exports and internationalising companies. Furthermore, also discussed were the opportunities of bilateral cooperation on an institutional and business environment level. The session concluded with the Protocol signing, which includes provisions in various areas, such as the endorsement of trade, cooperation on third markets, cooperation in the area of constructions, customs, transport, science and technology, SMEs, agriculture, animal health, food safety, waters and forestry, environment and city planning, tourism and culture. The decision to establish the JETCO mechanism was made in October 2018, during PM Viorica Dancila's visit to Ankara, when, in the talks with President Recep Erdogan, a target of 10 billion dollars in the annual bilateral trade was set, the MMACA points out. "Today we opened a new mechanism of dialogue between the two governments, which will bring opportunities for the business people in Romania. We are seeking solutions for a more balanced commercial relation, because it is in the interest of both sides on long term. The companies in Turkey understand that investing in Romania doesn't mean shifting production, but enlarging the business to Europe," Stefan-Radu Oprea said. Among the aspects the Romanian Minister approached there are the participation of Turkish companies in the construction area in Public-Private Partnership type of projects in Romania; strengthening the endorsement measures of Romanian exports on the relation with Turkey through participations in promotional events, the organisation of annual bilateral business forums; intensifying the information measures for Romanian companies regarding the collaboration opportunities. On the agenda of the visit to Turkey there were also meetings with MUSIAD, TUSIAD employer's associations and the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. Romania's Consul General in Instanbul Adriana Ciamba also participated in all events related to this visit. On 31 December 2018, the value of Romania-Turkish trade exchanges reached 5.558 billion euro, advancing 9.23 percent from 2017. Exports totalled 1.98 billion euro, declining 5.4 percent, and imports stood at 3.6 billion euro, 19.3 percent higher than in the previous year. The trade balance was in Turkey's favour by 1.622 billion euro. In 2018, Turkey was the main trade partner of Romania outside the EU in exports, with a share of 12.6 percent, and the second in imports (after the People's Republic of China), with a 17.7 percent share. At the end of last year, a number of 15,433 companies running on Turkish capital were registered in Romania, with the value of subscribed share capital of 728.7 billion dollars, representing 1.18 percent of the total subscribed capital of foreign investors. According to the share capital, Turkey is ranked 16th as residence country of investors in companies running on foreign capital, in the period December 1990 - December 2018, and 3rd in the ranking of residence countries according to the number of companies registered in Romania. According to the National Bank of Romania report, at the end of 2017, Turkey had in Romania direct investments worth 519 million euro, which represent a share of 0.7 percent in the total, ranking 19th in the country ranking. According to unofficial estimates, the total investments of Turkish companies in Romania, direct and indirect (made through companies registered in other states), exceed 4 billion euro. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Nicoleta Gherasi; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)