Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. - George S. Patton

The following list points to resources across the Internet dealing with economics and businesses dealing with Romania.

Chambers of Commerce

Pointers to businesses, business resources, chambers of commerce in and related to Romania. We hope to supplement this with more resources about US-Romanian business opportunities.

Consulting, Marketing and Advertising

A collection of links from Friends and Partners dealing with consulting, marketing, and advertising services in Romania.

Economic Trends and Current Data

Financial Institutions

A collection of links from Friends and Partners dealing with Romanian financial resources.

Other Economic and Business Services

A listing other economic resources in Romania.

Romanian Companies

Romanian-Related Companies

A collection of links from Friends and Partners dealing with Romanian companies with special emphasis on manufacturing.

The economic potential The economic potential of Romania is likely to meet the requirements of its inhabitants, while creating a solid basis of international exchanges and helping with integration into the continental socioeconomic structures.

This potential includes a workforce of 5,900 thousand employees in the economy, qualified on a par with European standards, an industrial structure about to be restructured, with certain signs of revigoration as regards the range of products and the volume of production in a number of branches, as well as the programmes for a more efficient exploitation of the natural resources of this country or boosting foreign trade.

Industry

The Romanian industry has a high degree of concentration: 600-700 companies give almost 80% of the industrial production.
Industry accounts for approximately 50% of the annual revenue.

Agriculture

Farmland sums up to 9.5 million hectares (23,475,450 acres) and takes up 62% of the surface of the country. Of these, over 3 million ha (7, 413,300 a) are irrigated. Approximately 4.6 million ha (11,367,060 a) are pastures, and 600,000 ha (1,482,660 a) are vineyards (Romania having famous wine brands), orchards, vine nurseries and fruit tree nurseries.

This great natural resource, coupled with the known capacity of the Romanian peasant to cultivate land, was a powerful argument for the confidence in the changes of agriculture of becoming one of the most productive branches of the Romanian economy after 1989.

Commerce

In January 1996, the National Office of the Commercial Register registered about 600,000 companies (joint-stock, limited, incorporated, regies autonomes, cooperation organizations, natural persons). The monthly average of the newcomers to the market economy is about 9,400. Almost all economic agents in Romania have production and domestic and foreign trade (import and export) activities: approximately 85%-90% of them have merchandise circulation activities.

Transportation

Located in the centre of Europe, Romania contributes to the international economic exchanges between the East and the West, the North and the South of the continent, as well as between Europe and the Middle East.

The Carpathian Mountains are crossed by ten railway lines. The general orientation of the lines is influenced by the presence of the capital city in the south-eastern part of the country, towards which the main routes converge. Bucharest is the largest railway centre of the country, from which 8 trunk lines start, most of them being linked to the international traffic. Romania produces railway carriages of all categories, and electrical and Diesel-electrical engines.
The total length of the motorways that add to the railway transportation is of over 72,800 kilometers (45,245 mi), with an average density of 30,7 km per/100 square mi). Like for the railway system, the main motorway junction is the capital, from where branch off the roads that cross the country in all directions, some of them being great European routes. One of these is E60, which comes from Hamburg and goes through Oradea and Bucharest to Constanta.
The main waterway traffic is done on the Danube. Downriver from Braila, on the part called "maritime Danube" ships with a draught of over 7 meters (23 ft) may navigate. On the rest, ships with draught up to 2.5 m (8.25 ft) may navigate. The construction of the Danube-Black Sea Canal and of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal created an extremely important waterway that connects the North Sea to the Black Sea. By the construction of the Portile de Fier I and II hydro-electric complex and navigation facilities, which include double waterlocks, the intensification of the traffic was made possible.
Maritime navigation is done especially with ships of great capacity, the Romanian fleet being equipped with ships (568) of all categories, up to those of 165,000-170,000 dwt. Constanta port handles 60% of Romania's imports and exports. Romania has great shipyards. 70% of the production of these shipyards is engaged under external contracts for the year 1996. Beside the old partners (China, Greece, the Republic of South Africa, Belgium), new markets have placed important orders (The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Norway, South Korea).
Romania has left important landmarks in the history of aviation. Among others, there is the first launching with a glider, designed by Grigore Sturdza (1875) and one of the first design of dirigibles in the world, presented in France by the Romanian captain Gheorghe Ferikide. In 1906 Trajan Vuia was the first to take off only with the on-board means of the plane. In 1910, in Paris, Henri Coanda presented to the world the first jet plane ever. The first plane in the world to contain metallic structural elements and a twoplace cabin was built in 1911 by Aurel Vlaicu. There are also some Romanian premieres in the field of hydroplanes and helicopters.
Domestic airlines link the capital to Craiova, Timisoara, Arad, Oradea, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca, Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Targu-Mures, Bacau, Iasi, Suceava, Tulcea, Caransebes and Constanta. Several international lines link Bucharest to Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna, Frankfurt, Brussels, London, Moscow, New York, Rome, Sofia, Athens, Istanbul, Beirut, Tunis, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Peking and others.

The Government has elaborated a draft bill regarding the modernization of the land, air and sea transportation lines of Romania. There are to be built 13 highways, with a total length of 3,000 km (1,865 mi), another 1,200 km (746 mi) of railways, bridges over the Danube and the Prut, and four new airports, in Brasov, Galati, Alba Iulia and Bistrita. Railway lines will allow for the circulation of high speed trains. The Romanian territory will be crossed by several pan-European corridors: the Danube and the RhineMain- Danube Canal, railway trunk lines, the highway from the West, and the Bucharest- Chisinau-Kiev route.