text: Wikileaks - MCCXLI on Trilema - A blog by Mircea Popescu.
  Wikileaks - MCCXLI
  187095 1/14/2009 13:09 09BUCHAREST24 Embassy Bucharest UNCLASSIFIED 08STATE123907 VZCZCXRO6574 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHBM #0024/01 0141309 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 141309Z JAN 09 FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9099 RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUCPCIM/CIM NTDB WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 BUCHAREST 000024
  STATE FOR EUR/CE ASCHIEBE, EB/IFD/OIA JHATCHER AND GHICKS STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR
  E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EINV, EFIN, ETRD, ELAB, KTDB, PGOV, OPIC, USTR, RO SUBJECT: ROMANIA: INVESTMENT CLIMATE STATEMENT, 2009
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  -- Setting up new commercial companies, subsidiaries or branches, either wholly owned or in partnership with Romanian natural or legal persons; -- Participating in the increase of capital of an existing company or the acquisition of shares, bonds, or other securities of such companies; -- Acquiring concessions, leases or agreements to manage economic activities, public services, or the production of subsidiaries belonging to commercial companies or state-owned public corporations; -- Acquiring ownership rights over non-residential real estate improvements, including land, via establishment of a Romanian company; -- Acquiring industrial or other intellectual property rights; -- Concluding exploration and production-sharing agreements related to the development of natural resources.
  Romanian legislation does not restrict the conversion or transfer of funds associated with direct investment. All profits made by
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  foreign investors in Romania may be converted into another currency and transferred abroad at the market exchange rate after payment of taxes.
  Romania's bankruptcy law contains provisions for liquidation and reorganization that are generally consistent with Western legal
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  standards. These laws usually emphasize enterprise restructuring and job preservation. Legal and economic education and the training of judges and lawyers lag behind law-making, which often results in inconsistent outcomes. To mitigate the time and financial costs of bankruptcies, Romanian legislation provides for administrative liquidation as an alternative to bankruptcy. However, investors and creditors have complained that the liquidators sometimes lack the incentive to expedite liquidation proceedings, and that, in some cases, their decisions have served vested outside interests. Both state-owned and private companies tend to opt for judicial reorganization to avoid bankruptcy.
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  Upon EU accession, Romania implemented the EU Common Customs Tariff, the Generalized Preference Scheme, EU commercial safeguards, preference agreements and cooperation agreements concluded by the EU with third countries, as well as other EU commercial commitments vis-`-vis the WTO.
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  Despite lower trading fees and a diversified securities listing, the situation on the international capital and financial markets has adversely affected the Romanian capital market. Country funds, hedge funds and venture capital funds continue to participate in the
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  capital markets, yet on a decreasing scale.
  According to the Romanian Central Bank, overdue and legally disputed loans now amount to 0.24% of total attracted and borrowed sources, this accounts for 0.22 percent of total banking assets and 2.36 percent of the banks' own capital.
  Romania is a member country of the Southeast European Cooperation Initiative (SECI), and it has signed and ratified the Agreement on Cooperation to Prevent and Combat Trans-border Crime of May 1999. Bucharest hosts the SECI Regional Center for Combating Corruption
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  and Organized Crime, and Romania is one of the three members of the Joint Cooperation Committee.
  The U.S.-Romanian Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) on the reciprocal encouragement and protection of investment (signed May 1992, ratified by the U.S. in 1994) guarantees national treatment for U.S. and Romanian investors. It provides a dispute resolution mechanism, liberal capital transfer, prompt and adequate compensation in the event of an expropriation, and the avoidance of trade-distorting performance requirements. The U.S. government negotiated an agreement with the EU and eight accession countries, including Romania, to cover any possible inconsistencies between the pre-existing BITs and the countries' future EU obligations. This revised BIT was ratified by the U.S. Senate and Romanian Parliament
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  in 2004, and went into effect on February 9, 2007. Other bilateral trade agreements with third countries were terminated upon Romania's EU accession.
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  Major sectors for foreign investment include: -- Automobile and automotive components (Renault, Daimler Benz, Ford, Siemens, Continental, Alcoa, Delphi Packard, Johnson Controls, Honeywell Garrett, Michelin, Pirelli); -- Banking and finance (Citibank, Societe Generale, AIG, ING, Generali, Volksbank, Raiffeisen, Erste Bank, Unicredit, National Bank of Greece, Royal Bank of Scotland, Intesa Sanpaolo, Millenium Bank, GE Money); -- Information Technology (Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco Systems, IBM) -- Telecommunications (France Telecom, OTE, Telesystem International Wireless Services, Airtouch-Vodafone); -- Hotels (Hilton, Marriott, Best Western, Howard Johnson, Sofitel, Crowne Plaza, Accor, Ramada, Radisson); -- Manufacturing (Timken, General Electric, LNM, Marco, Flextronics, Holcim, Lafarge, Heidelberg); -- Consumer products (Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Henkel, Coca-Cola, Parmalat, Danone); -- Retail chains (Metro, Delhaize, Carrefour, Cora, Billa, Selgros, Auchan, Kaufland).
  - Advent Central and Eastern Europe - investment fund - AIG - general insurance - AIG Life - life insurance - AIG New Europe Fund - investment fund - Alcoa - automotive, aluminum processing - Bunge - food - Citibank - banking - Coca-Cola - beverage, food - Cooper Cameron - gas field equipment manufacturer - Delphi Packard - automotive - General Electric - aircraft components - GE Money - non-banking financial services - Hewlett Packard - IT&C equipment, services - Hoeganess - iron powder for automotive - Honeywell Garrett - automotive - IBM - IT equipment - Johnson Controls - automotive - Kodak - film processing - McDonald's - food - Microsoft - software services
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  - New Century Holding - investment fund - Office Depot - office and business supplies - Oracle - IT services, consulting - Philip Morris - tobacco products - Procter and Gamble - consumer products - Qualcomm - telecommunications - Sigma Bleyzer - investment fund - Flextronics - contract manufacturing (ICT) - Timken - industrial bearings - UPC - cable television operator - Visa - financial services - Washington International Group - engineering
  - Holland - $6.08 billion (21.5 percent of total FDI): ICT, banking, insurance, consumer products, food; - Austria - $3.82 billion (13.5 percent): banking, insurance, construction materials, etc. - Germany - $3.26 billion (11.5 percent): insurance, food, machine construction, chemicals, cement, banking; - France - $2.60 billion (9.2 percent): food, ICT, automotive, manufacturing, cement, agriculture, banking, hypermarkets; - Italy - $1.38 billion (4.9 percent): footwear, textiles, food, banking, insurance; - Cyprus - $1.32 billion (4.7 percent): banking, retail, services; - U.S. - $ $1.05 billion(3.7 percent): ICT, automotive, banking, insurance, hospitality, manufacturing, consumer products.