Romania has become Black Friday country, high added value Romanian brand doesn't exist

Romania has become a Black Friday country, and the Romanian brand with high added value practically does not exist, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR), Mihai Daraban, said on Thursday at Forum Romania, Agerpres reports.

"A common characteristic of the former communist countries is that they have become subcontracting economies of the Western economy, because this is what it is: there is nothing left on our basket. Basically, the Romanian brand with high added value does not exist. I was also telling my friends before starting the works that I have all the respect for the Topoloveni jam, but it's jam, it's neither gearbox, nor turbine, nor compressor. So, small added value. I come back to that figure from import, and here I think it's the best poll among the consumer. Theoretically, we have 25,000 exporters in Romania, officially registered. The first one hundred of them make 51% of the entire export, and in the first 100 there are two Romanian companies (...) That is why the analysis on the import of Romania is an analysis on consumers until the end and those investments must be focused on satisfying its Black Friday appetite. That we are a Black Friday country. It's a truth, it's a reality, but that's what it is and the state enjoys the VAT that the individual donates at the counter, year after year," Daraban said.

He believes that economic diplomacy is completely lacking in Romania, while the business environment is "highly polarized".

"There are some traditions that we could change at the level of the Foreign Ministry with the famous phrase 'Career Diplomats'. I believe that the Romanian civil society can produce diplomats especially at the level of ambassadors, people who have gone through life, with experience in the field of business. The deficit of Romania's trade balance has reached unimaginable levels and I see that there is no discussion in the public space at all. Last year we reached 23.8 billion (euros), starting from 18.3 billion (euros), in 2020. At the end of 2015 it was 8.7 billion (euros), today it's 10 (billion euros), so it's clear that we're closing this year with about 28 billion (euros). No one is concerned about last year's import figure of EUR 98.4 billion. We have a very polarized, highly polarized business environment," the CCIR executive said.

In Daraban's view, the "temporary fury of the grain" will eventually have an end to it.

CRED Foundation - The Romanian Center for Education and Democracy, under the high patronage of the Romanian Academy, organizes, on Thursday and Friday, at the Palace of Parliament, the event Forum Romania.

The debates within the Romania Forum propose as main objective the elaboration and adoption of draft Plans for development and sectoral reform for the most important areas of interest for the Romanian society, which contain strategies, solutions, measures, responsibilities, as well as drafts for amending or supplementing some pieces of legislation.