Trade between Romania & Spain to reach 1 B EUR in 2005

Trade between Romania and Spain will amount to some 1 billion euro this year, Rosa Maria Sanchez Yebra Alonso, commercial attache of the Spanish Embassy in Bucharest said. However, Romania must still improve its business environment in order to attract further large-scale investment projects, Bursa reports. "For 2005, we estimate trade between the two countries to exceed 1 billion euro, especially given that in the first half of the year, trade rose by 50% compared to 2004", Yebra Alonso said.

However, the uncertainty of Romania's legal frame, as well as red tape do not favour medium- to long-term investments, she added.

In 2004, trade between Romania and Spain reached 853 million euro.
"Romania remains an attractive market for Spanish investors. Moreover, as Romania catches up with European Union standards, Spanish companies are all the more interested in the country's market", Yebra Alonso claimed.

Spanish investments have mainly involved greenfield projects, in particular in industries such as the automotive, food processing, wood processing and home appliance industries, she said.
Spanish companies are now interested in investing in industrial parks, commercial facilities and the energy and agricultural sectors in Romania, according to the Spanish official.

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