EU Enlargement

1

• EU Enlargement the case of Romania
• Magda R Tepoi,
• Istambul, April, 16th, 2009

2
EU Enlargement

• Enlargement is one of the European Union most
  powerful policy tools.It is a carefully managed
  process which helps the trasformation of the
  countries involved, extending peace, stability,
  prosperity, democracy, human rights ad the the
  rule of law across Europe.
• It began with the Inner Six, who founded the
  European Coal and Steel Community (the EU's
  predecessor) in 1951. Since then, the EU's
  membership has grown to twenty-seven with the
  most recent expansion to Bulgaria and Romania in
  2007.
• There is more to come Croatia and Turkey,
  Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

3
Snagov Declaration

• Romania signed its Europe Agreement in 1993 and
  submitted its official application for membership
  in the EU in 1995, the third country to do so
  after Hungary and Poland. Along with its official
  EU application, Romania submitted the Snagov
  Declaration, signed by all fourteen political
  parties declaring their full support for EU
  membership.

4
Benefits of EU Accession

• Removal of any obstacles in the trade with EU
  Member States
• Common trade policy with third countries
• Harmonization of entire legislation, capital
  market regulations, taxation, accounting rules gt
  higher transparency and simplification
• Structural funds (33 billion euro till 2013)
• Open gate for EU towards CIS, Asia, Middle East,
  Northern Africa
• Participation in major projects in the Black Sea
  Extended Area and in the Central Eastern
  European Region
• Romania-important role in assuring the energy
  security for Europe (major transit pipelines,
  energy production supply)

5
10 indicators where Romania is over the EU average
6
Pre-accession assistance granted to Romania by
the EU

• 1992-1999 amounted to approximately 1.2 billion
  euro
• 2000-2003 Romania received approximately 660
  million euro per year, through the three
  pre-accession instruments PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD
  
• 2004-2006 of up to 40 increase in 2006 (around
  2.8 billion euro)

7
Absorption rate of pre-accession funds

• PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD
• Beginning of March 2009, from the total of
  5.679.000.000 euro for the period 2000-2007, have
  been made contracts of 5.110.000.000 euro,
  absorption rate 90.
• The payments for these contracts represents
  3.469.000.000 euro, absorption rate 70.

8
Pre-accession and structural funds

• Phare - Stuctural Funds (European Regional
  Development Fund (ERDF) and Social European Fund
  ESF)
• Sapard - European Agriculture Fund for Rural
  Development (EAFRD) and The European Fishery Fund
  The EFF
• ISPA - European Cohesion Fund

9
IPA Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance

• From 2007 onwards EU is channeling its
  pre-accession funding through one single
  instrument called IPAIPAs aim is to be a bridge
  between external assistance and internal
  policies.
• IPA objectives are the following
• Support Turkey in its bid for membership,
  including the necessary economic, political and
  social reforms
• Help prepare the country for the management of
  structural funds.
• As a consequence IPA also
• Readies Turkey for multi-annual planning
• Supports Turkey in sound financial management of
  EU funds
• IPA will provide countries seeking EU
  membership with a total amount of  11.5 
  billion in the seven-year term from 2007 onwards.
  
• The preliminary EC draft budget for 2007
  envisages that Turkey could get over  2 billion
  for the first four years of IPA (2007-2010)
• IPAs five components are
• Transition Assistance and Institution Building
  Component 1
• Regional and Cross-Border Co-operation
  Component 2
• Regional Development Component 3
• Human Resources Development Component 4
• Rural Development Component 5

10
Structural Funds for Romania

• Romania will benefit of more than 30 billion Euro
  structural and cohesion funds from the EU for the
  2007-2013 period.
• 19.7 billion Euro under Convergence objective
• 13.3 billion Euro under Common Agricultural
  Policy
• The structural funds are managed by the European
  Commission and the goal is to finance the
  structural measures from the community for
  helping regions with a delay in their
  development, for reconversion of affected area's
  where there is a industrial decline and to fight
  against long time unemployment.

11
Structural Funds for Romania

• There are 4 types of structural funds. Each one
  handles specific domains and they have specific
  aims.
• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) -
  intended to reduce regional imbalance and assist
  less favoured regions via local development
  (local development, create and safeguard
  sustainable jobs and support SME's).
• European Social Fund (ESF) - focuses mainly on
  training and job creation, the reintegration of
  the work force and the fight against
  unemployment. There is a specific topic this
  funds finances projects for training and
  assistance to hire people.
• European Cohesion Fund contributes to very large
  infrastructure projects, such us the
  trans-European transport networks (TEN-T) and
  large-scale investments in the environment
  sector.
• In Romania, the investments from the structural
  funds will be complemented by the Common
  Agricultural Policy funds. These are
• The European Fishery Fund The EFF (2007-2013)
  will have a financial contribution to adapt and
  to modernize this sector.
• FEADR European Agriculture Fund for Rural
  Development (EAFRD) will finance the rural
  development measures and support agriculture
  (especially in the regions that are under
  developed).

12
Structural Funds for Romania

• The National Development Plan (NDP) is a specific
  concept for the European economic and social
  cohesion politics that provide a stable and
  coherent concept for the development of the
  member states.
• The first step to access the funds for Romania is
  the approval of the national development plan.
  NDP 2007-2013 is a strategic planning and multi
  annual financing document approved by the
  Romanian Government. The primary objective of the
  Romanian NDP is to reduce the economical and
  social gap between the members states and Romania
  as quickly as possible.
• The global objectives are based on 3 specific
  objectives
• To increase the competitiveness of the Romanian
  economy (long term)
• To develop the European standards for basic
  infrastructure
• To optimize the efficient use of the autochthon
  human capital

13
14 domains that can be financed with structural
funds and cohesion funds from the EU

• Technical Research and Development
• Informatization (ICT) of the society
• Transport
• Energy
• Environmental protection and prevention of risks
• Tourism
• Culture
• Urban and rural development
• Support for SME's and entrepreneurs
• Access to stable work places
• Social inclusion for disfavoured persons
• Development of the human capital and resources
• Investments in social infrastructure including
  those in health and education
• Promoting the development of partnerships

14
Responsable authorities
The Ministry of Public Finance from Romania is
the authority responsible for the coordination
of the national authorities in charge of the
administration of the structural funds. The
operational programmes will be coordinated by the
following national authorities Ministry of
Economy and Trade Increase of Economic
Competitiveness- Ministry of Transport,
Construction and Tourism Transport
Infrastructure- Ministry of Environment and
Water Management  Environment Infrastructure- Mi
nistry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family
Human Resources Development-  Ministry of
Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development
Agriculture and Rural Development- Ministry of
European Integration Regional Development and
European Territorial Cooperation- Ministry of
Public Finances Technical Assistance- Ministry
of Administration and Interior Administrative
Capacity Development
15
Sectoral Operational Programmes2007 -2013

• Technical Assistance Operational Programme 0.9
• Sectoral Operational Programme (SOP) Increase of
  Economic Competitiveness 13.3
• Sectoral Operational Programme for Environment
  23.5 (audited by the Commissionon on 16 Jan
  2009)
• Sectoral Operational Programme Transport (SOPT)
  23.7
• Regional Operational Programme 19.4
• Operational Programme Administrative Capacity
  Development 1.1
• Sectoral Operational Programme- Human Resources
  Development 18.1

16
Obstacles in the way of a better use of
Structural Funds

• 1. The in-efficiency of civil servants - almost
  20.000 civil servants (gt half in ministries, the
  other in county councils, prefectures, town
  halls in 2007 and 2008, Romania absorbed
  structural funds of 176 millions euro, but the
  civil servants from public administration
  received 300 millions euro a lot of
  consumtion, smqll investments)
• 2. Bureaucracy Almost all applicant guides are
  full of too many specific and technical terms
• Business people should be concentrated on the
  business project not on understanding a
  complicated process
• 3. Lack of experience In certain situations for
  instance big contracts, which are international
  auctioned, the authorities try to contract local
  experts or consultants to help or to train the
  permanent personal. The companies that
  participate to the auction are looking for the
  cheapest not the best experts. This aspect make
  most of the times, that the projects that are
  going to improve the performance of the people
  employed in the organisations that are
  responsible for the European fund to have a
  limited impact. The legal framework does not help
  at all those who wants to make projects.
• 4. National obstacles
• 5. Time formalities
• 6. Errors in funds demanding Not only state
  institutions are responsible of the low level of
  European Structural Funds absorption. (The OP
  -do not answer to a development vision we are
  aiming at and do not indicate stong and
  distinctive directions of development -rather
  seem to feel some gaps and refresh an exhausted
  economy then to look after a deep srtuctural
  reform)
• the mentality (CCI work)
• pre-accession assistance especially Phare
  component helped us a lot in building the adm.
  capacity for structural funds. Over 30 handbooks
  and procedures required for managing and
  implementing structural assistance were made with
  the help of foreign experts and projesct
  preparation benefit from the support of the
  pre-accession assistance.
• the way in which a program is running, the
  payment conditions are quite restrictive.
• in the case of the private companies this kind
  of financing is accessible for those which could
  implement the project by their own, with own
  resources or with credits, but with the help of
  European funds they will implementing faster.
• this aspect should be explained very clearly.
  For this reason, there are still many companies
  that has very low profitability and limited
  resources, who hope that they will make mirracols
  with the help of an European fund.

17
Countries from the first wave and the use of
European Funds
18
Structural funds use

• First year of membership
• Cehia 41,5 absorbtion 0,18
• Polonia 42,8 0,19
• Slovacia 41,6 0,24
• Ungaria 42,9 0,38
• România 21,7 (2007) contribution-0.36

19
Challenges for a better use of Structural Funds

• The maintain of an increasing economic growth
  over 5 yearly till the Euro adoption
• Building an effective administrative capacity in
  order to increase the number of the eligible
  projects (training, change mentality, to make a
  long term strategy)
• (see the European Innovation Scoreboard
  2006, Romania occupies the lowest position among
  the European countries in what concerns the
  innovation capacity, and this fact represent a
  concern tourism see Spain )
• the OP do not answer to a development
  vision we are aiming at and do not indicate stong
  and distinctive directions
• of development -rather seem to feel some gaps
  and refresh an exhausted economy then to look
  after a deep srtuctural reform
• The possibility for the general consolidated
  budget to generate co financing of almost 1
  yearly GDP, without the exceeding of 3 of the
  fiscal deficit
• The insurance of a proper level of co-financing
  both through private sources and also credits

20
Chambers of CommerceIssues from Romanian
businesses (in the implementation of
pre-accession funds)

• 1) Programme Administration
• The financing programmes are managed at central
  level, by the public administration, yet often
  responsibilities for coordination also as
  intermediaries , management, monitoring and
  reporting are separate and applied by different
  institutions for different programmes, which
  makes funding accession procedures both
  bureaucratic and difficult to evaluate and
  monitor, as a whole.

21
Chambers of CommerceIssues from Romanian
businesses (in the implementation of
pre-accession funds)

• 2) Applying for Funds
• The business community in Romania was often
  confronted with a number of concrete problems in
  accessing community funding which do not differ
  to European businesses
• burdensome and bureaucratic procedures and
  documentation while applying for funds
• too detailed reporting procedures, consuming an
  important amount of time and resources
• a slow decision process that may lead to losing
  opportunities for businesses
• the projects must be financed in advance and
  refunding is often delayed of the actual payment
• approval competencies are raised at too high
  levels, losing sight of the real needs in
  planning and running the businesses

22
Chambers of CommerceIssues from Romanian
businesses (in the implementation of
pre-accession funds)

• general problems, the business community the
  need for training and education in drafting of
  projects and financing mainly in view of
  preparing the use of European funds (example
  CCRUNER VPN)
• insufficient consultancy in the field
• the credit market is underdeveloped which makes
  difficult to ensure the required co-funding

23
Regional Economic Development by Continuous
Entrepreneurs Improvement

• The main purpose of the project was to increase
  the regional economic development by improving
  the quality of the staff of Chambers in providing
  services of professional trainingimproving the
  quality of enterprises management specialists
  from the North-East Region in the following
  fieldsassimilation of hi-technology
  noveltiesassimilation of good practicing and
  international commerce management applying the
  management of quality.so that to be ensured the
  development of the local area business
  environment and integration of regional business
  environment in European area.
• In the first section of the project will be
  organized seminars of improvement regarding the
  staff of the Chambers from the North-East Region,
  provided by European and Romanian specialists, in
  the following fieldsforeign trade
  TQMe-signcommercial arbitration project
  management in international economic
  cooperationEuropean politics and strategy for
  SMEsEuropean economic legislation for
  international cooperation.
• In the second section of the project,
  beneficiaries are the companies from the
  North-East Region willing to expand their
  businesses across the borders, in EU.
• The seminars have been organized in a Virtual
  Private Network system, in the following Romanian
  counties Iasi, Neamt, Suceava, Bacau and
  Botosani.

24
Chambers of CommerceIssues from Romanian
businesses (in the implementation of
pre-accession funds)

• 3) Market Failure and Displacement
• Establishing the fields in which additional
  funding is necessary is difficult to make unless
  businesses are dully consulted. However analyses
  that are carried to this purpose, are often based
  on incomplete or outdate information, while,
  between the assessment period and the actual
  allocation of funds market conditions may change.
• To ensure a better allocation of funding, the
  chambers of commerce and industry initiate a
  mechanism of regular consultation with the
  business community on the real needs for
  financing, through specialized public hearings,
  questionnaires and a market surveillance
  mechanism

25
Chambers of CommerceIssues from Romanian
businesses (in the implementation of
pre-accession funds)

• 4) Administration of Funds
• The cooperation between the public administration
  and the chambers must be based on the
  understanding of the role that chambers of
  commerce and industry play in supporting the
  enterprises, their capacity to work in a
  structural, professional network of centers for
  information, consultancy, representation and
  coordination of the business community.
• The chambers of commerce and industry make the
  necessary efforts to create mechanisms and
  instruments for communication, cooperation and
  partnership with the public administration and
  NGOs that have responsibilities in regional
  development issues. 

26
THE ROLE OF THE ROMANIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND
INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING THE REGIONAL POLICIES and
implementing the European Funding

• Lobbying and advising national governments on
  the formation of regional policies
• The chambers of commerce and industry from
  Romania (CCIT) participate in regional
  programming, within the mechanism of elaboration
  in partnership of the multi-annual Regional
  Development Plans.
• The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania
  and Bucharest Municipality (CCIRB) was a member
  of the National Transparency Committee for
  Monitoring the Community Funds.
• CCIRB participates to the social dialogue, both
  at national level (as a permanent guest, in the
  Economic and Social Council and the Social
  Dialogue Committees of the economic ministries)
  and at local level Social Dialogue Committees
  of the counties Prefectures.
• CCIRB participates to the Consultative Council
  for the Negociation of Romanias Accession to the
  EU and the Working Groups, on negociation
  chapters, established within the Council.
• EPE bringing companies closer to Lisbon agenda
  (the movie)

27
Some facts figures on EPE companiesINVOLVEMEN
T OF EU INSTITUTIONS

• EU political representatives involved in national
  programmes EPE(11programmes received)
• Members of the European Parliament Approx. 115
• European Commission 7 EU commissioners
• Other representatives from EU institutions
  (Commissions DGs, EESC, etc.) Approx. 35
• 740 MePs have received an information letter on
  the companiesvote

28
THE ROLE OF THE ROMANIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND
INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING THE REGIONAL POLICIES and
implementing the European Funding

• Representing businesses on regional partnership
  groups
• In Romania, the chambers of commerce and
  industry were nominated as members in the
  Regional Development Councils (having
  responsibilities in programming and
  implementation of  the regional development
  policies aproval of the regional programming
  documents monitoring of the funds use).
• In the meantime Chambers of Commerce and
  Industry in Romania closely cooperate with the
  Regional Development Agencies (NGOs set up as
  executive entities of the Regional Development
  Councils, for the elaboration and implementation
  of the programming documents implementation of
  the regional development programmes technical
  monitoring of the funds use)

29
THE ROLE OF THE ROMANIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND
INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING THE REGIONAL POLICIES and
implementing the European Funding

• Carrying out of regional policy and implementing
  local initiatives for the benefit of the area
• CCIRB and the local chambers of commerce and
  industry participate to the organization of
  networks of centers for information and
  consulting, in cooperation with the National
  Agency for SMEs and Cooperation, Minister of
  Environment and local public administration.
• Romanian Business School of the Chambers of
  Commerce and Industry participates to a series of
  projects, mostly with European funding in the
  field of education for businesses,
  entrepreneurship and continuous vocational
  training.
• Very important is the training for EPSO (European
  Selection Personal Office) competition for those
  who wants to become public servants in European
  Institutions.

30
THE ROLE OF THE ROMANIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND
INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING THE REGIONAL POLICIES and
implementing the European Funding

• Advising businesses on the access to funds and
  projects
• Chambers of Commerce and Industry trains
  specialists and sets up information and
  consultancy structures for entrepreneurs, in
  projects evaluation and applying for
  pre-accession funding
• Through the programs initiated by Eurochambres
  (CAPE I, CAPE II and CAPE III) local Chambers of
  Commerce and Industry in Romania have been given
  assisstance and training in order to better
  advise their members on EU matters.
• Through the Euro Info Centres network chambers of
  commerce and industry in Romania contribute to
  the readiness of businesses for EU integration,
  with information and advice on the acquis
  communautaire issues, Internal Market, explaining
  of community mechanisms and policies. 

31
Romanias Geo-strategic Position
Area 238,391 km2 92,043 sq mi. the 9th in EU
Population 21.7 mill inhabitants the 7th in EU
Capital city Bucharest 1.9 mill inh
Member of EU, WTO, IMF, WB, NATO
Our friend the wind
32
Romanias Strategic Location

• The Eastern border of the inland European Union
• Strategic position at the turning point where EU
  meets the Balkans and CIS countries

33
Competitive Taxation
Country Corporate Tax
Romania 16
Hungary 16
Slovakia 19
Poland 19
Estonia 20
Croatia 20.32
Slovenia 25
Czech Rep. 28
FLAT TAX 16 16
VAT 19 19
SOCIAL SECURITY 43.5 39.5 by the end of 2008
AVERAGE GROSS WAGE (2008) 480 euro 480 euro
MINIMUM GROSS WAGE (2008) 135 euro 135 euro
34
Macroeconomic Performance GDP real growth
Source National Institute of Statistics
35
Macroeconomic Performance Inflation rate
Source National Bank of Romania
36
Macroeconomic Performance Unemployment rate
36
37
Foreign direct investments - million Euro -
Source National Bank of Romania
38
Foreign Investors Advantages

• foreign investments allowed in all sectors of
  economy
• possibility to freely manage the company with
  full ownership rights
• full repatriation of capital and profits
• protection against expropriation and
  nationalization
• national treatment for foreign investors

39
Main trade partners - 2007 -
Top export partner countries percentage of total export Top export partner countries percentage of total export
Italy 18,10
Germany 16,95
France 7,64
Turkey 7,12
Hungary 5,34
Great Britain 4.36
Bulgaria 2.67
Austria 2.66
Spain 2.27
Poland 2.18
SUA 2.09
Holland 2,06
Greece 1.76
Belgium 1.60
Ukraine 1.54
Top import partner countries percentage of total import Top import partner countries percentage of total import
Germany 17,25
Italy 13,72
Hungary 6,75
France 6.48
Russian Federation 6,30
Turkey 5,78
Austria 4,67
Holland 3.52
Poland 3.28
China 2,83
Czech Rep. 2.34
Spain 2.07
Belgium 1,93
Great Britain 1,92
Greece 1,49
40
Top reasons to invest in Romania (1)

• Market Location Advantage
• Second largest market in Central and Eastern
  Europe (over 21 million inhabitants)              
        
• Easy access to the countries of the former CIS
  countries, Balkans, the Middle East and Northern
  Africa
• Junction of three prospective European
  transportation corridors nos. 4, 7 9
• Resource Advantage
• Skilled labor force, with solid knowledge in
  technology, IT and engineering
• Rich natural resources, including fertile
  agricultural land, oil and gas
• Important potential for tourism

41
Top reasons to invest in Romania (2)

• Economic Advantage
• Sustainable economic growth
• Functional Market Economy status
• Competitive tax policy
• Decreasing inflation
• Permanent financial assistance for SME's
  Development
• Structural funds
• Improving Infrastructure Advantage
• Well-developed networks of mobile
  telecommunications in GSM systems
• Branch offices and representatives of well-known
  international banks
• Commitment to improve the highway infrastructure
  to EU standards
• Extensive maritime and river navigation
  facilities

42
Map of Industrial Parks

• More than 40 Industrial Parks
• Both private public
• Greenfield Brownfield
• Access to utilities
• Package of services offered by the park
  administration
• Wide variety of activities to be developed
• Some created for high-tech activities

43
Potential Sectors for Investment

• Manufacturing
• Automotive parts
• IT Communication
• Electric Electronics
• Wood processing

• Construction materials
• Textile
• Food processing
• Infrastructure
• Outsourcing and logistics

44
Automotive Industry Opportunities

• Experience in the field of car makers
• Automotive component parts rapidly growing
  sector currently over 175 major manufacturers
• Availability of labor force
• Labor cost monthly average salary approx. Euro
  250-300
• Total number employed 600.000
• Trained work force
• 7 colleges in vehicle technology 500 graduates
  each year
• 25 colleges in mechanical engineering 1.000
  graduates / year
• Availability of suppliers and subcontractors
• Presence of RD centers
• Successful investment stories in the field

45
Automotive top-tier investors
2006 1 bill investment 1.6 bill turnover 12 thou employees 2007 230.500 cars sold New projects A gear boxes facility 217 mill of Renault-Nissan Alliance A RD Centre "Renault Tehnologie Roumanie" 456 mill - 2012
Ford took over the state-owned shares of Automobile Craiova (72.4 ) for 57 million, and pledged to invest 675 mill to modernize the factory and increase the number of employees Ford is awaiting for the results of the EC investigation on the Romanian government helping the takeover Ford took over the state-owned shares of Automobile Craiova (72.4 ) for 57 million, and pledged to invest 675 mill to modernize the factory and increase the number of employees Ford is awaiting for the results of the EC investigation on the Romanian government helping the takeover
Automotive component parts sector the fastest growing sector in Romania 5.8 bill investment inflows to increase up to 9-10 bill until 2010 Huge presence of international top-tier players TYRES (Michelin, Pirelli, Continental) WIRES (Yazaki, SEWS, Leoni, Lear, Valeo, Delphi) BEARINGS (SNR, Ina Schaeffler, Koyo), SOFTWARE (Siemens VDO) SEATS (Johnson Controls), etc. Automotive component parts sector the fastest growing sector in Romania 5.8 bill investment inflows to increase up to 9-10 bill until 2010 Huge presence of international top-tier players TYRES (Michelin, Pirelli, Continental) WIRES (Yazaki, SEWS, Leoni, Lear, Valeo, Delphi) BEARINGS (SNR, Ina Schaeffler, Koyo), SOFTWARE (Siemens VDO) SEATS (Johnson Controls), etc. Automotive component parts sector the fastest growing sector in Romania 5.8 bill investment inflows to increase up to 9-10 bill until 2010 Huge presence of international top-tier players TYRES (Michelin, Pirelli, Continental) WIRES (Yazaki, SEWS, Leoni, Lear, Valeo, Delphi) BEARINGS (SNR, Ina Schaeffler, Koyo), SOFTWARE (Siemens VDO) SEATS (Johnson Controls), etc.
46
Romanian ITC Industry Trends

• High density of Romanian IT specialists (five
  times higher than in Russia, and seven times than
  in India).
• Romanian Olympic students are usually placed in
  top 4 with China, US and Russia.
• In Microsoft the second spoken language is
  Romanian
• Low brain drain phenomenon in Romania
• IT sector is constantly growing
• Major multinational IT companies such as
  Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Cisco, Intel and Motorola
  are present in Romania - many of them use Romania
  as regional headquarters.

47
A Top European Location for product RD,
outsourcing, customer service and BPO

In 2006 Microsoft opened a Global Technical Support Center creating around 700 jobs One GE group companies established an IT outsourcing, financial services and supply chain BPO HP set up a BPO in Bucharest for financial and administrative services, dedicated to EMEA region - up to 1200 employees

In 2006 WIPRO decided to set up a BPO center in Bucharest for IT services covering the East European market - 700 employees Ericsson opened in Romania, in July this year, a New Global Service Delivery Center - 70 of the employees will be young graduates BPO aiming to offer outsourcing services in HR, finance and procurement to work
48
Availability of Human Capital

• Young population (more than 55 is under the age
  of 40 and 37 is between 25 and 49 years old)
• Almost 21.7 million people

• 104 higher education institutions
• 112 thou university graduates
• Availability of technical engineers
• High industrial experience
• Flexibility

Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
more than 1,000,000 inhabitants
300,000 400,000 inhabitants
200,000 300,000 inhabitants
100,000 200,000 inhabitants
Source National Institute of Statistics Source National Institute of Statistics

49
Valuable Human Potential

• high performances in international competitions
• high percentage of technically competent
  professionals (23 are engineering graduates out
  of 720 students enrolled)
• highest growth rate of IT specialists in the
  region (Annually 7000 university graduates in the
  software field More then 3.000 students in 105
  local Cisco academies)

University graduates in Romania (by education
field)
Source National Institute of Statistics

• strong language skills (English, French, German,
  Italian, Spanish, Russian, etc.)
• large skilled labor force at comparatively low
  wage rates