The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) is an association of the leading foreign investors in Romania. The FIC now has 104 members, whose combined investment in Romania exceeds 10.6 billion euros, representing approximately three quarters of Romania's total foreign direct investment. The primary objective of the FIC is to foster dialogue between policy makers and investors in order to improve Romania's business environment and to assist in Romania's European Union accession process.

The FIC elected a new Board of Directors in their annual General Assembly on May 12, 2003. The new Board, which will serve for the next twelve months, is comprised of 15 members, listed in alphabetical order of their company:
Patrick Gelin - BRD Groupe Societe Generale; Witold Zielinski - Citibank; Calin Dragan - Coca Cola; Hildegard Gacek - EBRD; Peter de Ruiter- Ernst&Young; Alexandros Iganatiadis - Global Finance; Gilbert Wood - Hall Dickler; Victor Kevehazi - KPMG; John Saunders - Kvaerner IMGB; Veronica Savanciuc - Lowe & Partners; Kurt Strohmayer - Marriott; Paul Nuber - Nestle; Gianluca Testa - Solectron; Paulo Bassetti - Tenaris Silcotub; Shachar Shaine - Tuborg.

The new Board will elect its officers, consisting of a President, two Vice Presidents and a Treasurer, in its first meeting on May 26, 2005.

The current President, Mr. Gilbert Wood expressed his gratitude to former Board members for their outstanding contribution to the FIC and particularly for the amount of time and efforts dedicated for the benefit of the business community at large. He also thanked to all the members of the specific task forces for their effort, enthusiasm and dedication during their term of office, which contributed significantly to improving the Romanian business climate.

The Board reported that the central event of this year, which set the FIC's 2005 agenda, was the publication in February of the fourth edition of the "White Book". On this occasion, the White Book was linked explicitly to attracting foreign direct investment in the country and was given the title "Immediate Measures to Increase Foreign Direct Investment in Romania". The 2005 White Book was the result of the considerable and voluntary contribution of time, resources and efforts on behalf of our Members, the executive committee, the Board, the specific task forces and FIC staff. More than 100 people were involved in its writing.

The FIC believes that many of the proposals in the White Book regarding improvements to the business climate are crucial to achieving Romania's successful entry into the EU on January 1, 2007.

The FIC senses that the government is serious about listening to the concerns of the business community. At the same time, many businesses have yet to see the impact of these positive decisions on their day-to-day operations. The FIC believes that following up on the implementation of the White Book recommendations is a key challenge for the next twelve months, and one where the FIC will play an important role.