PM Orban to Austrian investors: You can count on a partnership with the Government

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban told Austrian investors on Wednesday that they can count on a partnership with the Romanian government, which wants to develop a friendly business environment, in which state authorities can support a beneficial business environment to both parties.

While attending the "Celebrating 70 Years" event, organised by the Austrian Embassy in Romania, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the opening, in our country, of the Advantage Austria Bucharest trade section, the Prime Minister emphasized that Austria was a pioneer in terms of foreign investment in Romania, being among the first countries that came to our country in 1990, with great courage.

"The transport infrastructure needs serious companies to modernize it. (...) The first section of a motorway that crosses the mountains is made by an Austrian company. (...) Although Austria is not a very big country, I think it has almost 12 per cent of the foreign investments made in Romania after the 1990s, an extremely high percentage. I think that Austria ranks 3rd in Romania in terms of the volume of investments, after Germany, for example, which is an economic force, and after the Netherlands, which benefits from many companies running on American capital. The volume of trade exchanges also places Austria in one of the most important positions in the ranking," said Ludovic Orban at the meeting.

According to him, the trade volume, over 4.2 billion annually, shows an extremely strong economic link between Austria and Romania and, "what is interesting is that many of the Austrian companies are top companies" - such as OMV, BCR, transport companies, insurance companies, companies operating in various services areas, companies that have never left Romania once they came here.

"As for us, as a Government, I like to say simple things: anyone who invests in Romania takes some risks, brings some money that are mostly borrowed, (...) takes some responsibilities, generates jobs, generates added value, creates, after all, prosperity. In my opinion, any investor must be treated with hospitality and I believe that hospitality should be a Romanian brand because, literally, Romanians are hospitable and very friendly, and the investors should be treated as friendly as possible because, after all, they risk their money and try to generate production capacity or a service delivery system that ultimately helps the country where that investment is localized," Orban explained.

He assured that the government treats Austrian investments "with the utmost seriousness."

"In general, the managers of Austrian companies know that we have a communication system, we meet regularly whenever there are important issues to discuss. (...) And we always try to find solutions to facilitate certain investments, certain developments. (...) The message I want to convey is that we appreciate you, that you can rely on a loyal partnership with the representatives of the government, that we try to simplify things, to digitize (...), and that we are trying to develop a friendly business environment in which the state authorities will be your partners," said the PM.