3Q Michael Sternberg Denmark’s ambassador to Romania

What is the latest news regarding Danish investments in Romania?
We just created a business association about three months ago and the response has been very, very good, much better than I had expected. We have 70 members so far and we plan to be quite active. It’s a very diversified community, there are a lot of investments in agriculture for example. I think that Danes are probably involved in about 1.5 percent of all agricultural land in Romania (pig farming, crop production, this kind of things), as well as transport, maritime transport, harbour administration, sustainable energy, all kinds of areas. I cannot really estimate the entire value of Danish investments in Romania, but it’s quite big. I’ve only been an ambassador here since the start of the year, when I came from Thailand, and the business association has just been started. I had not expected such a large and active community, however.

From your experience so far, what are Romania’s major issues and what can be done to attract more investors here?
I think the Romanian government is trying to do many things in this direction. Your economy was like our economy, like most of Europe, in a time of crisis. Actually, Romania is not doing as badly as many other European countries. However, the outstanding issue here is good governance, or corruption. Within the last year, Romania has been doing more than before. Of course, there is also the Schengen issue. So I think that respect for the law and a clear and transparent legal system are important issues for Romania.

What would you say are Romania’s most positive aspects and when do you see the country emerging from the crisis?
The people – they are so well-educated and can speak many languages and I am very impressed by this. People here can speak English, French, Italian, Spanish, etc. People are very educated and want to work, to do something. Although we have 300 Danish companies here, there are only a handful of Danes – all the firms are administered by Romanians and we are very satisfied with that. I think that Romania is emerging from the crisis. You are returning to positive growth, not as much as one would like, but the economy is turning around. We are not completely out, but compared to other countries in Europe, you are not doing that badly.

Interview with the Danish Ambassador in Romania and Moldova, H.E. Mr. Michael Sternebrg, in Business Review