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Shipyard in maritime industries - a successful example of Norwegian investment in Romania

His Excellency Øystein Hovdkinn, ambassador of Norway to Romania, had the courtesy to give an interview to the AGERPRES National News Agency, talking about the concrete results of the bilateral economic relationships, but also about the significant potential he is waiting to be made good use of by companies and bodies of the two countries, in the new framework offered by Romania's belonging to the European Union.

According to His Excellency, 'the Norwegian company STATKRAFT - the largest hydro-power producing company in Norway - has for a couple of years tried to establish partnerships with Romanian companies for this purpose. I understand the process has not been easy due to problems related to bureaucracy and very difficult and cumbersome legislation. I am therefore at this point in time not sure what the final results will be. STATKRAFT has recently signed big contracts on hydro-power production with partners in Turkey and Albania. It is indeed surprising that it seems to be easier in this case to do business for a Norwegian company in Turkey and Albania than in the EU member state Romania'.

'If you include shipyard in maritime industries this is one of the most successful examples of Norwegian investments in Romania. At the end of the 1990s the Norwegian company Aker Yards bought two shipyards in Tulcea and Braila, modernized them and turned them into highly efficient yards based on top technology. Last year, Aker Yards was bought by South Korean investors but the headquarters remain in Norway so we still like to see this as an example of good cooperation between Romania and Norway', H.E. Øystein Hovdkinn added.

'Through the EEA/EFTA and Norwegian financial funds for Romania (€ 98.5 mill from 2009 to 2011) a new platform has been created which will foster new partnerships between Romanian and Norwegian business companies, academic institutions, NGOs and public administrations. One such project - coming back to your question on aquaculture - is BEluga STurgeon COMunity BAsed Tourism project (BEST COMBAT): Best approaches to combat the society impacts of the Danube sturgeon fishery ban through tourism. The Romanian promoter of the project is the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development in Romania which implements the project in partnership with NIVA (Norwegian Institute for Water Research). The long term goal of the project is to create community based tourism in the Danube Delta using the beluga sturgeon as a flagship species to provide the local community with sustainable alternatives to sturgeon fishing and permit recovery of the sturgeon populations. The project, amounting to Euro 1,240,000 of which Euro 1,050,000 represents the Norway grant, was launched at the beginning of June 2009 with the release of four satellite tagged beluga sturgeons', the Norwegian ambassador stressed in the interview.Also, 'The Norwegian government has invested considerable amounts of money to finance two test sites in Norway where we try to develop a technology which separates the CO2 before it is used in power plants. This is where Romania comes into the picture. I mentioned the financial funding that runs until 2011. Now we are negotiating with the EU to establish a new round of financial assistance to Romania for the period 2009-2014 . We have made it clear to the EU that in the next round we want to focus even more on projects related to climate change, to CO2 emissions and especially to CCS. This is going to be very high on the agenda for the next round of financial assistance to Romania from 2009 until 2014. And we already are in contact with some possible partners in Romania but I can't mention any names because it is on a very tentative and early stage. I understand that Romania has a considerable potential for storage of CO2 in its geological formations which used to be salt mines. Romania could, according to some experts, become a European laboratory for the storage of CO2', the Norwegian ambassador added.

'The total bilateral trade with Romania represents 0.17% of the total Norwegian foreign trade, amounting to about 300 million Euro. The imports from Romania represent 0.32% of Norway's total imports, amounting to 1,563.408304 million NOK (about 175 million Euro). Major articles imported by Norway from Romania: ships (36% of total imports), electrical machinery (14.4% of total imports) and woven apparel (11.3% of total imports). With regard to the trade balance, Norway is one of the countries with which Romania has a surplus, mainly due to the ships built in Romania and exported to Norway.

'Romania is the largest country in South-Eastern Europe and the 7th largest in the EU. For some years Romania's economic growth has been among the highest in Europe. The country has an enormous potential for further growth in her agriculture, in energy, in a well educated population. Since the 1990s the bilateral relations between our two countries have shown an impressive development. Based on what I have said above I am convinced that the economic exchanges between our two countries can only continue to grow in the coming years, considering that a large number of Norwegian companies have explored the opportunities to invest in Romania over the past year and a half as well', H. E. the ambassador of Norway to Romania concluded.

 

Sursa: http://www.rompress.ro

Tags: norwegian romania total imports sturgeon which norway euro project

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