France ranks 3rd among foreign investors in Romania, with over 4,150 companies

France ranks 3rd among foreign investors in Romania, with over 4,150 local companies and a stock of foreign direct investment worth 8.7 billion euros, president of the French Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Romania (CCIFER) Francois Coste told the tenth annual conference 'Romania's Economic Perspectives', organized by CCIFER, which addressed topics such as European macroeconomic dynamics, Romania's macroeconomic balance in the European context, as well as sectoral economic perspectives for 2022."The FDI stock in Romania reached 90.8 billion euros in 2020, which accounts for 42 percent of GDP. According to the latest report of the National Bank of Romania, France ranks 3rd by the final source of capital, with over 4,150 companies and a stock 8.7 billion euros. Beyond these macro figures, it's noteworthy that almost all CAC 40 companies (36 out of 40) are present on the Romanian market and are often leaders or co-leaders in their markets. The 4,150 French investors directly employ more than 125,000 people and have a cumulative turnover of 17 billion euros," Francois Coste said in a statement on Friday.French Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili (photo), currently on a working visit to Romania, had an intervention at the conference on the green transition challenges and prospects."There will be no ecological transition without the involvement of companies. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, to protect the biodiversity and health of European citizens, to make the European Union a continent at the forefront of the transition, we must transform our economies. We will do it with our companies, old or new," said Barbara Pompili.In a video message, French ambassador to Romania Laurence Auer pointed out France's priorities for its term at the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2022."What will be the role of the French Embassy during the French EU Presidency? First, it will be to make the connection between bilateral and economic issues and then with the European agenda, to synchronize French priorities with Romanian priorities. Then, the role of the Embassy will be to confer visibility to projects, as well as to concepts. The French Presidency will be built around a triptych, three concepts that will be developed gradually during the Presidency. This triptych is called recovery, power, belonging," said Laurence Auer.According to the release, Romania's trade dropped 8.1 percent in 2020 to 142.7 billion euros (65.8 percent of GDP), as the health restrictions related to the pandemic significantly affected foreign trade, domestic consumption, the supply chains of the Romanian industry, as well as external demand.Despite the tall taken by health restrictions on Romania's foreign trade, the bulk of Romania's commercial exchanges (over 87 percent of the total trade) are with the European economic zone. France remains a privileged economic partner, as the third most important customer and sixth largest supplier. In 2020, France - Romania bilateral trade shrank by 12.4 percent to 7.5 billion euros. However, the trade balance returned to a surplus of 15.5 million euros as a result of the decline in imports outperforming the shrinkage of exports.MEP Siegfried Muresan drew the conclusions of the conference "Romania's Economic Perspectives", tackling also the opportunities the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) brings to Romania."As far as the NRRP is concerned (...), the EU has attempted to take measures to alleviate the pandemic crisis. We have completely flexibilised the rules for accessing EU funds, so that the money can be used to an extent as high as possible to combat the pandemic.(...) Next Generation EU is both an investment and a reform program. (...) There are six areas we fund, with two requirements: 37 percent of the allocated funds must go into projects with a green component, and 20 percent in projects with a digital component," Siegfried Muresan pointed out.Founded in 1996, CCIFER is a member of the global network of 126 French Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture counting over 37,000 members in 96 countries.CCIFER currently has 550 members with a combined turnover of 18 billion euros and which created over 125,000 direct jobs.  (Photo:https://www.facebook.com/FranceRoumanie/photos/pcb.4324564020987191/4324558327654427/)