Romania’s new agency for investment and foreign trade will be operational within “a few months”, said George Agafiței, state counsellor to prime minister Nicolae Ciucă, for www.fdiintelligence.com. “We have created this new agency — known as Arice — to help firms from the very early stages of investment. The final piece of legislation was approved in February, but it will take a few months to employ people and set it up”, Agafiței said, according to the source.

Arice will incorporate the country’s existing agency InvestRomania, which is part of the ministry of entrepreneurship and tourism, aiming at offering foreign investors a single point of contact within the government. “We also want to expand the network of economic diplomats in our foreign embassies, to help them attract more FDI”, Agafiței added. According to www.fdiintelligence.com, Romanian central bank data shows that FDI in Romania hit 10.7 bn euros last year, which is the highest volume on record. “My objective for 2023 is 14 bn euros to 15 bn euros”, said Agafiței. Renewables, software and IT were the biggest sector recipients last year. The renewables sector came naturally, considers Agafiței. “We have a good geography for this and a lot of funds via the NPPR. The energy crisis and the understanding that we can’t depend on Russian energy have accelerated things.”