The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) welcomes the confirmation by the EC Country Report for Romania that the country has a functioning market economy. The FIC considers that this is a strong incentive for the Government to continue the pace of reform and improve the business climate, including in areas identified by the foreign investors such as: the labor market flexibility, the rule of law and the level playing field and the tax regime.

As regards the second economic criterion i.e. if the country is prepared to cope with the competitive pressure and market forces within the EU, Romanian companies still have two years to put into shape their business in order to be ready. The production facilities of multinationals in Romania operate already at the EU level of productivity and their products met the EU quality standards. By sharing their experience the FIC members’ companies are ready to support the Romanian companies in their effort to restructure, to improve efficiency and to innovate in order to increase their capacity to adapt.

The FIC will continue to support Romania in its efforts in improving the business environment and plans to release its new edition of the White Book in February 2005. Every two years the FIC publish a White Book which represents an overview of the investment climate and includes a set of recommendations in the view of improving the business environment.

FIC members are in a position to facilitate effective implementation of the acquis communautaire by making available to the GOR their experience of similar processes in other countries.

The FIC believes that the measures proposed by our organizations will enable further improvements in Romania’s business and investment environments and will thereby contribute to attracting FDI and to helping Romania successfully achieve its objective of joining the EU in 2007.